Webster's English Dictionary

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curtain

1. cur.tain \'k*rt-*n\ n [ME curtine, fr. OF, fr. LL cortina, fr. L 
   cohort-, cohors] enclosure, court 1: a hanging screen usu. capable of being 
   drawn back or up; esp : w indow drapery 2: a device or agency that conceals 
   or acts as a barrier  3a: the part of a bastioned front that connects two 
   neighboring bastions  3b1: a similar stretch of plain wall  3b2: a 
   nonbearing exterior wall  4a: the screen separating the stage from the 
   auditorium of a theater  4b: the ascent of the curtain at the beginning of 
   a play or its descent at  the end of a scene or act 4c: the final situation 
   or line of an act or the closing scene of a play  pl  4d: END; esp : DEATH 
2. curtain \'k*rt-nin, -*n-in\ vt or cur.tain.ing 1: to furnish with 
   curtains  2: to veil or shut off with a curtain