curtain

cur|tain [ `kɜrtn ] noun **

1. ) count a long piece of cloth, usually one of a pair, that hangs down and covers a window:

close/pull/draw the curtains (=move them together): Close the curtains and turn the light on.

open/pull/draw (=move them apart): Open those heavy curtains and let some sunlight in.

a ) a long piece of material that hangs down and separates one part of a room from another:

a shower curtain

The nurse pulled the curtains around the bed.

b ) usually singular a very large piece of cloth that is pulled up or to the side on a theater stage when a performance starts:

The audience cheered wildly as the curtain rose.

2. ) singular or uncount a large amount of a substance such as smoke or rain that is too thick to see through:

curtain of: She drove off, the gray curtain of mist suddenly swallowing her up.

A curtain of thick dark hair hid her face.

be curtains for INFORMAL

used for saying that someone or something will die, end, or be in serious trouble:

One more mistake and it'll be curtains for him.

bring down the curtain on something/bring the curtain down on something MAINLY JOURNALISM

to end something:

They bring down the curtain on their African tour in Cape Town today.

the curtain falls on something LITERARY

if the curtain falls on something, it ends

the final curtain

1. ) the end of a performance in a theater

2. ) MAINLY LITERARY the end of something, especially life