curtain Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window)
    drape; pall; drapery; mantle.
  2. noun any barrier to communication or vision
    • a curtain of secrecy
    • a curtain of trees
  3. verb provide with drapery
    • curtain the bedrooms

WordNet

Cur"tain noun
Etymology
OE.cortin, curtin,fr. OF. cortine, curtine, F. courtine, LL. cortina, curtian (in senses 1 and 2), also, small court, small inclosure surrounded by walls, from cortis court. See Court.
Definitions
  1. A hanging screen intended to darken or conceal, and admitting of being drawn back or up, and reclosed at pleasure; esp., drapery of cloth or lace hanging round a bed or at a window; in theaters, and like places, a movable screen for concealing the stage.
  2. (Fort.) That part of the rampart and parapet which is between two bastions or two gates. See Illustrations of Ravelin and Bastion.
  3. (Arch.) That part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
  4. A flag; an ensign; -- in contempt. Obs. Shak. Jerrold.
    A curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. W. Irving.
    --
Cur"tain transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Curtained present participle & verbal noun Curtaining
Definitions
  1. To inclose as with curtains; to furnish with curtains.
    So when the sun in bed Curtained with cloudy red. Milton.

Webster 1913