Curtain Meaning
/ˈkɜːtn̩/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA piece of cloth covering a window, bed, etc. to offer privacy and keep out light.
nounA similar piece of cloth that separates the audience and the stage in a theater.
Sentence Examples
I'll open the curtain for you to look out.
I waited for the curtain to rise with my heart beating in excitement.
The curtain rose to reveal an empty stage.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She pulled the heavy ____ aside to let in the morning sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I'll open the ____ for you to look out.
Word Origin & History
Inherited from Middle English curtine, from Old French cortine, from Late Latin cōrtīna (“curtain”), a calque from Ancient Greek.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire."
— 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:
"It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day."
— 1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324:
"“H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what[…]will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday[…]that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth.[…]”"
— 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
"For life is quite absurd / And death's the final word / You must always face the curtain with a bow."
— 1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life:
"Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose"
— 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She pulled the heavy ____ aside to let in the morning sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I'll open the ____ for you to look out.