▪ I. curtain, n.1
(ˈkɜːtɪn, -t(ə)n)
Forms: 4–6 cortyn(e, -eyn(e, courtyn(e, -ein(e, -ayn, curtyn(e, -ein(e, -eyn(e, -ayn(e, 4–7 courtin(e, curten, -ine, 4–8 cortine, curtin, (4 couertine, 5 quirtayn, 5– 6 courting), 6 cortaine, -ayne, (curteynge, cowrtyng), 6–8 courtain(e, 7–8 curtaine, 4, 7– curtain.
[ME. cortine, curtine, a. OF. cortine, courtine in same sense = Sp. and It. cortina:—L. cortīna, in Vulgate (Exod. xxvi. 1, etc.) a curtain. The connexion of this with classical L. cortīna round vessel, cauldron, round cavity, vault, arch, circle, is obscure, and the etymology uncertain: see Körting Lat.-Roman. Wbch. s.v.]
1. a. A piece of cloth or similar material suspended by the top so as to admit of being withdrawn sideways, and serving as a screen or hanging for purposes of use or ornament; e.g. to enclose a bed (the earliest English use), to separate one part of a room from another, to regulate the admission of light at a window, to prevent draught at a door or other opening, etc.
| [a 1186 Robert of Torigni Chron. (Rolls) 292 Cortinæ illæ circa lectum conjugis suæ.] a 1300 Cursor M. 11240 (Cott.) Was þar na pride o couerled, chamber curtin [v.r. curten, -ain, -eyn] ne tapit. c 1320 Sir Beues 3217 A couertine on raile tre, For noman scholde on his bed ise. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 854 Þer beddyng watz noble, Of cortynes of clene sylk, wyth cler golde hemmez. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle i. iv. (1483) 4 By ouer drawynge of a grete corteyne. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 267 Ane burely bed..Closit with Courtingis, and cumlie cled. 1552 Huloet, Curtayne aboute a hall. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxxiv. 545 The Veile or Courtaine of the Temple did rend a sunder. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone v. ii, I'le get vp, Behind the cortine, on a stoole, and harken. 1674 Brevint Saul at Endor 167 A great Cortin, that hanged before our Ladies Image. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4033/4 Lost..3 Damask Window-Curtains. 1712 Budgell Spect. No. 313 ¶16 There is a Curtain which used to be drawn across the Room. 1827 O. W. Roberts Centr. Amer. 78 Under the necessity of using mosquito curtains. |
b. to draw the curtain: (
a) to draw it back or aside, so as to discover what is behind; (
b) to draw it forward in front of an object, so as to cover or conceal it. Also
fig.| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys 14, I drawe the curtyns to shewe my bokes then. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 72 Such a man, so faint, so spiritlesse..Drew Priams Curtaine, in the dead of night. 1657 Lust's Dominion i. i. (Stage Direct.), Eleazar, sitting on a chair, suddenly draws the curtain. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 19 ¶3, I started up and drew my Curtains to look if any one was near me. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 4, I shall..try to ‘draw the curtain of Time, and shew the picture of Genius’. |
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. Introd. vi, To drawe a curtayne I dare not to presume, Nor hyde my matter with a misty smoke. 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. vi. 89 Make no noise, make no noise, draw the Curtaines. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 980 While Evening draws her crimson curtains round. |
† c. Applied in the Bible to the skins or pieces of cloth with which a tent or tabernacle was hung; the canvas of a tent.
| 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxvi. 1 The tabernacle forsothe thow shalt make thus; ten curteyns [Vulg. decem cortinas]. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. vii. 2 The Arke of God dwelleth amonge the curtaynes [Vulg. in medio pellium]. 1611 Bible Hab. iii. 7 The curtaines of the land of Midian did tremble. |
d. Applied variously to hanging pieces of cloth or fabric: as, a veil, an overhanging shade of a bonnet, an ensign.
curtain of mail: the piece of chain-mail hanging from the edge of a helmet of the Saracen type; the camail.
| 1541 Elyot Image Gou. 21 Your predecessors..wold not be seen of the people but seldome, and oftentymes with a courteine before theyr visage. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. ii. 41 Their ragged Curtaines poorely are let loose, And our Ayre shakes them passing scornefully. 1788 E. Sheridan Jrnl. (1960) 138 Bonnets I see most generally worn and some with very deep Curtains, The Bonnet itself is small. 1861 C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret ii. 31 Her lilac-spotted sun-bonnet..with a huge curtain serving for a tippet. 1889 Century Mag. Dec. 260/2 When our grandmothers had curtains to their bonnets. |
e. pl. A wrinkled effect resembling a draped curtain on a painted or varnished surface.
colloq.| 1922 M. Toch How to paint Permanent Pictures 79 A very heavy-bodied Linseed Oil,..was so viscous that it flowed down..and formed ‘curtains’, and teardrops. 1951 R. Mayer Artist's Handbk. iii. 136 Streamlines. The surface defect resembling drops of water running down a window pane is variously known by painters and paint technicians as frilling, curtains, runs, or tears. 1958 Listener 28 Aug. 323/1 Just flow them [sc. jelly paints] on a little more generously... You are not likely to have any trouble with runs or ‘curtains’. |
2. a. In a theatre, etc.: The screen separating the stage from the auditorium, which is drawn up at the beginning and dropped at the end of the play or of a separate act.
to call (an actor) before the curtain: to summon him to appear after the curtain falls to mark one's appreciation of his performance. Also in various phrases used
fig.,
to drop or raise the curtain, to end or begin an action;
the curtain falls, drops, or rises, etc.
| 1599 [see 7]. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Cypress Grove Wks. (1711) 125 Every one cometh there to act his part of this tragi-comedy, called life, which done, the courtain is drawn, and he removing is said to dy. 1677 [see b]. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 193 ¶3, I have..been bred up behind the Curtain, and been a Prompter from the Time of the Restoration. 1752 Young Brothers v. i, No; death lets fall The curtain, and divides our loves for ever. 1768 Goldsm. Good-n. Man iv, Cro. Perhaps this very moment the tragedy is beginning. Mrs. Cro. Then let us reserve our distress till the rising of the curtain. 1811 Byron Hints fr. Hor. 216 The hands of all Applaud in thunder at the curtain's fall. 1888 Pall Mall G. 13 Sept. 5/1 Macready..as Richard III, was the first actor to be summoned before the curtain at Covent Garden. |
b. behind the curtain: ‘behind the scenes’, away from the public view.
| 1677 Gilpin Dæmonol. (1867) 130 To put us in mind who it is that is at work behind the curtain, when we see such things acted upon the stage. 1682 Enq. Elect. Sheriffs 26 Some behind the curtain had undoubtedly laid the project. 1763 Ld. Barrington in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 449 IV. 461 Lord Bute..declares he will not be Minister behind the Curtain, but give up business entirely. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 631 The circumstances, however, which constituted the real nature of the transaction were only behind the curtain. |
c. In various
ellipt. or allusive uses: (i)
= curtain-call; (ii) the finale of a play, act, or scene; also
transf.; (iii)
= curtain-fall.
| 1884 Referee 31 Aug. 3/3 Written in Sand was well received, and Broughton had to ‘take a curtain’. 1885 Ibid. 15 Mar. 7/3 It is singular, considering how excellently French dramatists write, that they so frequently fail in getting a good ‘curtain’. 1895 G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) I. 165 The doggerel tags before the final curtain. 1897 E. Terry Let. 19 June in E. T. & Shaw (1931) 219 The last week I've dragged myself through that long long part, and toppled down when it was Curtain on Thursday night. 1917 R. Firbank Caprice xii. 102 The other afternoon I ‘offered my services’ and obtained three curtains at a gala matinée. 1919 Wodehouse My Man Jeeves 146 Curtain of act one on hero..kidnapping the child. 1928 Evening News 7 Aug. 7/3 There were ten curtains after the second act and an enthusiastic reception when the curtain fell. 1928 Daily Tel. 4 Dec. 9/1 ‘Sapper’ gives a decidedly original curtain to his dramatic murder tale ‘The Hidden Witness’. 1965 Listener 9 Sept. 393/1 A lyrical outpouring, leading to a most effective curtain. |
d. In
pl. (also
occas. in
sing.), the end (
cf. sense 2 c (iii)).
slang.| 1912 D. Lowrie Life in Prison vii. 82 There ain't much dope here now, an' it's curtains t' get nailed with it. 1918 Wodehouse Piccadilly Jim xi. 114 ‘What's wrong?’ ‘Curtains!.. I've been fired.’ 1937 C. Day Lewis Starting Point ii. i. 135, I rather fancy potassium cyanide. You just chew a piece, and quick curtain. 1940 N. Monks Squadrons Up! 213 Once he gets the enemy lined up in that ring, it is curtains for the enemy. 1956 Wallis & Blair Thunder Above (1959) xii. 131 If the Party ever got on to it..it would be curtains for Kurt. |
e. curtain up: the beginning of a performance.
| 1942 E. S. L. Robinson Curtain Up 9 The call-boy makes his rounds rapping like Fate at each dressing-room door... ‘Curtain up.’ 1968 Guardian 19 Feb. 6/1 Curtain-up is a month away. 1969 ‘S. Troy’ Swift to its Close vi. 90 What are you going to do till curtain-up? |
3. a. transf. and
fig. Anything that covers or hides.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, Under curtyn and veyle of honeste Is closed chaunge and mutabilitye. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 407 The fringed Curtaines of thine eye aduance, And say what thou see'st yond. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 141 The moon appeared..enveloped with a cloudy curtain. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §2 The circular curtain called the iris. 1858 Longfellow Birds of Passage, Jewish Cemetery ii, The trees..o'er their sleep wave their broad curtains. |
b. Mil. (In full
curtain of fire,
curtain fire.) A concentration of rapid and continuous artillery or machine-gun fire, etc., on a designated line or area, to prevent the advance or retreat of enemy troops, or to clear the way for the combatant's advance. Also, a concentration of fire to block the progress of aircraft.
| 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 114 Shells began to batter at their parapet, and to prepare a curtain of fire along their front. 1920 D. A. Macalister Field Gunnery (ed. 4) vii. 157 During an attack..the batteries, acting in concert, establish the ‘curtain of fire’ or ‘barrage’. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 98/2 The idea also was evolved of barrage fire, a curtain of bursting shell to be put up in the path of the raiders. 1943 T. Horsley Find, Fix & Strike 92 We..began our glide through the curtain of lead towards the inner harbour. |
c. Short for
iron curtain (see
iron n.1); also with capital initial. Also used in similar metaphors,
esp. implying restriction of information.
| 1945 Sunday Empire News 21 Oct. 2/2 (heading) A curtain across Europe. 1946 Spectator 13 Sept. 257/2 The Russians..would admit their ‘iron curtain’, but pointed out that there was also the Anglo-U.S. ‘uranium curtain’. 1949 [see bamboo n. 2]. 1950 M. Peterson (title) Both sides of the Curtain. 1953 School & Society LXXVIII. 129 (title) The language curtain. 1955 Times 21 July 6/4 The reaction at G.H.Q. East Africa has been to tighten even further its own security curtain. 1970 ‘W. Haggard’ Hardliners iv. 37 A foreigner from behind the Curtain. |
4. a. Fortif. The plain wall of a fortified place; the part of the wall which connects two bastions, towers, gates, or similar structures.
complement of the curtain: see
complement.
| 1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. i. iv. 9 The towne was well manned..and the curten of suche heigth and thicknes that the besieged with great ease became victors. 1571 Digges Pantom. i. xxv. H b, Laders that shall reache from the brym of the ditch or edge of the counterscarfe, to the top of the wal or curtein. 1670 Cotton Espernon i. iii. 113 They..pass'd within forty paces of the Courtine which play'd upon them all the while. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy II. xii, The curtain, Sir, is the word we use in fortification, for that part of the wall..which lies between the two bastions. 1871 Daily News 7 Feb., There is a small breach in the curtain of the southern front. |
b. Archit. A plain enclosing wall not supporting a roof.
| 1633 J. Done Hist. Septuagint 61 About the same [the temple] is a girt of three Curtaines of Wals raysed in the Ayre, to the height [etc.]. 1865 W. G. Palgrave Arabia I. 76 A large semicircular curtain..built roughly and unsymmetrically with rubble and coarse blocks. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 59 The wall, in fact (where the system [of attaching buttresses] was carried to its extreme limits), became a mere curtain. |
5. Nat. Hist. a. In mushrooms or fungi, the
velum partiale, a marginal veil hanging from the pileus as a shreddy membrane.
b. In bivalve molluscs, the inner pendent margin of the mantle.
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 155 When very young some woolly fibres connect the pileus to the stem in place of a curtain. 1846 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 175 Profusely covered over its pileus, curtain, and stem, with a yellowish powder. 1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856) 260 Animal (of meleagrina) with mantle-lobes united at one point by the gills, their margins fringed and furnished with a pendent curtain; curtains fringed in the branchial region. |
6. techn. a. A partition in the leaden chamber in which sulphurous acid is converted into sulphuric acid.
b. The piece of leather which overlaps the parting of a portmanteau, trunk, etc.
c. In some locks, a circular plate revolving round the keyhole, which closes it up when any instrument is introduced in an attempt to pick the lock.
| 1874 in Knight Dict. Mech. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 958 These leaden chambers are sometimes divided into 3 or 4 compartments by leaden curtains placed in them..These curtains serve to detain the vapours, and cause them to advance in a gradual manner through the chamber. |
d. A contrivance consisting of wooden slats which can be rolled up:
spec. one of a number of these used to form a dam or weir. Also
attrib., as
curtain-dam,
curtain-valve,
curtain-weir.
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 608/3 Low Curtain Office Desk... Has lap joint, dust and knife proof curtain. 1903 Thomas & Watt Improvem. Rivers viii. 244 Curtain Dams... The Caméré curtain..consists of narrow horizontal strips of wood, hinged together, and capable of being rolled up by a chain. Ibid. 253 The space between the two rows [of shutters] was then filled with water by opening curtain-valves. 1927 E. Weymann Dams 586 The curtains are suspended from hooks on the face of the frames. 1929 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 489/1 The curtain weir... In it wooden curtains that can be rolled up from the bottom were substituted for the needles in the Poirée weir. |
7. attrib. a. Pertaining to a curtain or curtains.
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie iii. xi. 226 What ere he saies Is warranted by Curtaine plaudities. 1881 Daily News 23 Aug. 3/6 In the curtain department an increased business is being done..many curtain machines are still well employed. 1885 Century Mag. XXIX. 553/2 A long curtain-calico gown. |
† b. Done behind the curtains; secret, hidden.
| 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 69 We thunder fear, A toy to th' Curtain-whisper in the Ear. 1673 J. Janeway Heaven on E. (1847) 135 He knew..our most secret workings, our closet curtain-business. |
8. Comb., as
curtain-cord,
curtain-lifter;
curtain-like adj.;
curtain-angle, the angle formed at a bastion, etc., where the curtain begins;
curtain-call, a call by an audience for an actor or actors to take a bow after the fall of the curtain (see 2);
† curtain-coach, a coach with curtains in the window-spaces;
curtain-fall, the fall of the curtain at the end of an act or scene; the situation or tableau when the curtain falls; also
fig.;
curtain hook, any of a number of hooks that may be attached to a curtain in order to hook it on to curtain rings or to a curtain rail;
curtain line, the last line of a play, act, or scene; also
transf.;
curtain-paper (see
quot.);
curtain-pole,
= curtain-rod;
curtain rail = curtain-rod;
curtain-raiser (
orig. slang), a short opening piece performed before the principal play of the evening (
cf. lever de rideau); also
transf.;
curtain-ring, one of the rings by which a curtain is hung on the curtain rod, and which slide on the rod when the curtain is drawn;
curtain rise, the rise of the curtain at the beginning of an act or scene;
curtain-rod, the horizontal rod from which a curtain is suspended;
curtain wall, (
a) see sense 4 b; (
b) see
quot. 1901; also
curtain walling; hence
curtain-walled adj. Also
curtain-lecture, -sermon.
| 1884 ‘F. Leslie’ Let. 15 July in W. T. Vincent Recoll. F.L. (1893) I. x. 176 You will find a room specially adapted for rehearsing *curtain calls. 1919 Wodehouse Damsel in Distress xii. 144 He felt a wave of stage-fright such as he had only once experienced before in his life—on the occasion when he had been young enough to take a curtain-call on a first-night. |
| 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4224/3 Three Hackney Glass Coaches..and a very good *Curtain Coach to carry 6 People. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §58 Take a smalle *curteyne corde, and bynde it harde aboute the beastes necke. 1863 A. D. Whitney Faith Gartney's Girlh. xvii, She drew the curtain-cord to let in the first sunbeam. 1939 T. S. Eliot Old Possum's Pract. Cats 14 The curtain-cord she likes to wind. |
| 1900 T. E. Pemberton Kendals ix. 276 He must be forgiven and at *curtain-fall live happily ever after. 1909 Daily Chron. 26 Jan. 5/6 ‘A Merry Christmas!’ he shouts light-heartedly at curtain-fall. 1962 Times 27 Nov. 14/7 Within the confines of curtain-rise and curtain-fall. |
| c 1505 *Curtain hook [see curtain rod]. 1898 D. C. Peel New Home xiv. 237 Curtain-hooks..should be button-holed on with waxed thread. 1982 H. O'Leary Curtains & Blinds i. 16 Curtain hooks are attached to the curtain heading and then inserted through runners or gliders on the curtain track. |
| 1939 D. L. Sayers In Teeth of Evidence 200 ‘I will rest on my laurels’—that was a beautiful *curtain line you gave him there. 1959 Listener 31 Dec. 1171/2 Conversations [in a novel] end with brave, ringing curtain lines. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Curtain-paper, a peculiar kind of paper-hangings made in the Western States of America..used as substitutes for roller blinds by a large class of people. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Curtain-paper, a heavy paper, printed and otherwise ornamented, for window-shades. |
| 1865 Geo. Eliot Ess. (1884) 206 Unctuous personages..who soar above the *curtain-poles without any broomstick. 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 880/1 Heavy brass curtain pole rings. |
| 1924 Cabinet Maker 5 July Suppl. p. xlv. (Advt.), The [Arthur Clay] ball bearing *curtain rail. 1982 H. O'Leary Curtains & Blinds i. 15 (heading) Curtain tracks and rails. |
| 1886 Birm. Wkly. Mercury 23 Oct. 5 The slight opening pieces, or ‘*curtain raisers’ as they are profanely styled..are often hurried through amid much confusion. 1892 Leeds Mercury 1 Apr. 5/3 A new piece..put on as a curtain-raiser for ‘Lady Windermere's Fan’. 1940 War Illustr. 26 Jan. 24 What has happened to date is the curtain-raiser to that aerial blitzkrieg which is still part of the stock-in-trade of the Nazi boasters. 1955 Times 27 July 2/6 There was a curtain raiser earlier this month when the case was put that the proposed scheme was ultra vires. 1969 Australian 24 May 36/6 The three Australian selectors..will watch Sydney Seconds..in the curtain-raiser before focusing on the main game. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 11 Feb. 6/2 Miss Tree sings, at *curtain-rise, to very charming purpose. 1962 Curtain-rise [see curtain-fall]. |
| 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 12 §2 No Merchant Stranger..shall bring into this Realm..Hanging Lavers, *Curtain-rings, Cards for Wooll. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) III. 123 I'll rattle his Curtain-rings every Night. |
| c 1505 Churchw. Acc. St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, For *curten roddis and hookys. 1792 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to Margate Hoy Wks. 1812 III. 65 With fingers..loaded much like Curtain-rods with Rings. |
| 1853 Turner Dom. Archit. III. ii. vii. 226 A *curtain wall connecting it. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 250 As buttresses increased in projection, greater and greater openings in the curtain wall were ventured on. 1901 R. Sturgis Dict. Archit. & Building 731/1 *Curtain wall. In modern construction, most often a thin subordinate wall between two piers or other supporting members; the curtain being primarily a filling and having no share—or but little—in the support of other portions of the structure. Thus, in skeleton construction, curtain walls are built between each two encased columns and..on a girder at each floor level. 1930 Engineering 1 Aug. 131/3 The curtain wall[of the Welland Ship Canal] is 3 ft. 6 in. thick and set back 10 ft. 6 in. from the upstream face. 1950 Archit. Rev. CVII. 221 On the ground (banking floor) these curtain walls are of glass blocks to give the maximum light without permitting passers-by to see inside. 1952 Ibid. CXII. 392 ‘Curtain wall’ is a recent American term for a form of rigid skin walling. It is basically an extension of sheet cladding to cover wider spans... In a more developed form it includes the growing practice, particularly on slab blocks, of covering a complete elevation with subsidiary framing holding both cladding and windows. |
| 1959 Listener 3 Dec. 976/2 *Curtain-walled office-blocks. |
| 1958 Archit. Rev. Jan. 7 The increasing use of *curtain walling and similar systems. 1963 Listener 28 Feb. 371/1 Curtain walling has made it possible to turn the whole facade into a huge shiny texture. Ibid. 371/2 Curtain walling is being used to create simple geometric form at the expense of the spaces behind. |
▪ II. curtain, n.2 Variant of
courtin.
| 1853 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIV. ii. 316 The cattle are kept in open curtains with shedding, each curtain containing from 8 to 12 animals. |
▪ III. ˈcurtain, v. [f. curtain n.1] 1. To furnish, surround, cover, adorn, with a curtain or curtains.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 1028 With samytes, and baudekyns, Weore cortined the gardynes. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1181 G. þe god mon, in gay bed lygez..Vnder couertour ful clere, cortyned aboute. 1605 [see curtained]. c 1611 Chapman Iliad v. 199 Eleven fair chariots stay..Curtain'd and arrast under foot. 1828 Scott Tapestr. Chamb., The tapestry hangings, which..curtained the walls of the little chamber. |
b. transf. and
fig. To cover, conceal, veil, protect, shut
off, as with a curtain.
| c 1430 Lydg. Bochas viii. xxiv, Some skyes donne Myght percase curtayne his beames clere. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 24 When with a happy storme they were surpris'd, And Curtain'd with a Counsaile-keeping Caue. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass ii. (1664) 22 Curtained, and over-shadowed with a palpable darkness. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. 95 A supreme immediate longing that curtained off all futurity—the longing to lie down and sleep. |
Hence
ˈcurtained ppl. a.,
ˈcurtaining vbl. n. (
spec. colloq. in
Painting, the formation of ‘curtains’: see
curtain n.1 1 e and
ppl. a.| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 51 Wicked Dreames abuse The Curtain'd sleepe. 1820 Keats Lamia ii. 18 Near to a curtaining Whose airy texture, from a golden string, Floated into the room. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz (1877) 2 The churchwardens..duly installed in their curtained pews. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 196/1 A sudden escape from curtaining oak branches brought us full upon the summit. 1940 in Chambers's Techn. Dict. 217/1. 1953 in Gloss. Paint. Terms (B.S.I) ii. |