curtain
    n 1: hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window)
         [syn: curtain, drape, drapery, mantle, pall]
    2: any barrier to communication or vision; "a curtain of
       secrecy"; "a curtain of trees"
    v 1: provide with drapery; "curtain the bedrooms"

Curtain \Cur"tain\ (k[^u]r"t[i^]n; 48), n. [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.]
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   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.
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   2. (Fort.) That part of the rampart and parapet which is
      between two bastions or two gates. See Illustrations of
      Ravelin and Bastion.
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   3. (Arch.) That part of a wall of a building which is between
      two pavilions, towers, etc.
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   4. A flag; an ensign; -- in contempt. [Obs.] --Shak.
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   Behind the curtain, in concealment; in secret.

   Curtain lecture, a querulous lecture given by a wife to her
      husband within the bed curtains, or in bed. --Jerrold.
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            A curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the
            world for teaching the virtues of patience and
            long-suffering.                       --W. Irving.

   The curtain falls, the performance closes.

   The curtain rises, the performance begins.

   To draw the curtain, to close it over an object, or to
      remove it; hence:
      (a) To hide or to disclose an object.
      (b) To commence or close a performance.

   To drop the curtain, to end the tale, or close the
      performance.
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Curtain \Cur"tain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Curtained
   (k[^u]r"t[i^]nd; 48); p. pr. & vb. n. Curtaining.]
   To inclose as with curtains; to furnish with curtains.
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         So when the sun in bed
         Curtained with cloudy red.               --Milton.
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Curtain
   (1.) Ten curtains, each twenty-eight cubits long and four wide,
   made of fine linen, also eleven made of goat's hair, covered the
   tabernacle (Ex. 26:1-13; 36:8-17).
   
     (2.) The sacred curtain, separating the holy of holies from
   the sanctuary, is designated by a different Hebrew word
   (peroketh). It is described as a "veil of blue, and purple, and
   scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work" (Ex. 26:31; Lev.
   16:2; Num. 18:7).
   
     (3.) "Stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain" (Isa. 40:22),
   is an expression used with reference to the veil or awning which
   Orientals spread for a screen over their courts in summer.
   According to the prophet, the heavens are spread over our heads
   as such an awning. Similar expressions are found in Ps. 104:2l;
   comp. Isa. 44:24; Job 9:8.