Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - curtain

(curtains) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Curtains are large pieces of material which you hang from the top of a window. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use drapes) Her bedroom curtains were drawn. N-COUNT 2. Curtains are pieces of very thin material which you hang in front of windows in order to prevent people from seeing in. (AM; in BRIT, use net curtains) N-COUNT 3. In a theatre, the curtain is the large piece of material that hangs in front of the stage until a performance begins. The curtain rises toward the end of the Prelude. N-SING: the N 4. You can refer to something as a curtain when it is thick and difficult to see through or get past. (LITERARY) He saw something dark disappear behind the curtain of leaves. N-SING: usu N of n see also Iron Curtain 5. If something brings down the curtain on an event or situation, it causes or marks the end of it. Management changes are under way that will finally bring down the curtain on Lord Forte’s extraordinary working life. PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n