curtain
/ˈkɜɹt(ə)n/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.86 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The flat area of wall which connects two bastions or towers; the main area of a fortified wall.
noun
noun
The uninterrupted stream of fluid that falls onto a moving substrate in the process of curtain coating.
Example Sentences
- "He drew the curtains at 11:00pm before falling asleep."
- "Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire."
- "It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day."
- "“H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what[…]will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday[…]that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth.[…]”"
- "He took so long to shave his head that we arrived 45 minutes after curtain and were denied late entry."
- "Captain Rense, beleagring the Citie of Errona for us, […] caused a forcible mine to be wrought under a great curtine of the walles […]."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English curtine, from Old French cortine, from Late Latin cōrtīna (“curtain”), a calque from Ancient Greek.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkɜɹt(ə)n/
- British English: /ˈkɜːtn̩/