(n.) 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.
(n.) That part of the rampart and parapet which is between two bastions or two gates. See Illustrations of Ravelin and Bastion.
(n.) That part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
(n.) A flag; an ensign; -- in contempt.
(v. t.) To inclose as with curtains; to furnish with curtains.
Example Sentences:
(1) To a supporter at the last election like me – someone who spoke alongside Nick Clegg at the curtain-raiser event for the party conference during the height of Labour's onslaught on civil liberties, and was assured privately by two leaders that the party was onside about civil liberties – this breach of trust and denial of principle is astonishing.
(2) In assessing damaged nets and curtains it must be recognised that anything less than the best vector control may have no appreciable impact on holoendemic malaria.
(3) We are drawing back the curtains to let light into the innermost corridors of power."
(4) Blatter’s spokesman, Klaus Stöhlker, told Press Association on Thursday: “Before the decision was taken, in the case of Russia and the USA there were ‘behind-the-curtain’ talks.
(5) At rostral levels, one third of the tracts are loosely built forming a king of curtain, while they become more compact at caudal levels.
(6) Artists in Russia have begun warning of a new "iron curtain" falling over the country, as ever more western stars become targets of the country's crackdown on culture.
(7) The damning comments by Judge Alistair McCreath both vindicated Contostavlos – who insisted she was entrapped by the reporter into promising to arrange a cocaine deal – and potentially brought down the curtain on the long and controversial career of Mahmood, better known as the "fake sheikh" after one of his common disguises.
(8) You can use absolutely anything - an unwanted T-shirt, some old curtains, something you picked up in a charity shop ... Garish 70s-style prints you probably wouldn't dream of wearing work surprisingly well in soft toys: they are cute, they can pull it off.
(9) But homewares, which Street calls the store chain's "point of fame", are well down as a result of fewer people moving house and therefore not popping in to John Lewis to order big-ticket items such as carpets, curtains and furniture.
(10) The term comes from the Urdu ( parda ) and Persian ( pardah ) word meaning veil or curtain and is also used to describe the practice of screening women from men or strangers.
(11) In net-curtained rooms above a disused kebab shop on Cricklewood Broadway, a small group of middle-aged men were at work as usual when they found themselves at the centre of a national terror warning.
(12) He had a private table on Dakota’s second floor that would often be cordoned off by a curtain upon his party’s arrival.
(13) Hence the nerves, hence the curtain twitching, hence the good tea cups and posh biscuits laid out on the table.
(14) Everyone expects it to be curtains for shipbuilding.
(15) Cyrus, who was standing on a nearby stage, said: “We’re all in the industry, we all do interviews and we all know how they manipulate shit.” Near the end of the broadcast, Cyrus spoke from behind a black curtain as she changed clothes.
(16) The few that remain benefit from ample provisions, friendly volunteers and cardboard-and-curtain partitions designed by the world-famous architect, Shigeru Ban .
(17) Sisal eaves curtains deterred mosquitoes from hut entry but did not kill those that had entered.
(18) Behind him is a blue curtain designed like the national flag with a white star and the words: "I love Somalia."
(19) Nigel Farage has declared it will be “curtains” for him as UK Independence party leader if he fails to win his target parliamentary seat of South Thanet.
(20) The log casts no further light on the blacked-out portion of the execution that lasted 27 out of the 43 minutes, in which a curtain was drawn over the viewing screen preventing witnesses from observing what was unfolding.
Purdah
Definition:
(n.) A curtain or screen; also, a cotton fabric in blue and white stripes, used for curtains.
Example Sentences:
(1) This was a courageous move in a society where women were confined to purdah.
(2) Vote Leave reacted angrily to the findings, which it said were part of a plan by the government “to circumvent purdah rules by using the IMF, which is funded by the EU and the UK government”.
(3) Plasma calcium, phosphate, and serum 25 OHD concentrations were lower in practising women and their newborns than those not practising purdah and their infants, respectively.
(4) He told the Observer : “I have been cautiously optimistic from the start, but having gone through the last three weeks, and the purdah period, there is a slightly different mood around.
(5) Some senior officers are relieved that this enforced purdah will maintain their distance from the political process, but others feel powerless and frustrated as they watch an election process that they fear could undermine trust in the police.
(6) Either way, the lucky candidate, who has first to past the Normington test (of which more in a moment) has a tenure of eight and a bit months – actually less because Whitehall will be winding down to pre-election purdah by the end of March next year.
(7) But this view was not supported by Shafik, Forbes or Miles, who made their views public before the Bank goes into “purdah” later this week for the duration of the election campaign.
(8) Local government has been quick to jump in and offer advice and support to colleagues in central government, with Graeme McDonald, head of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace), making a very fair offer: Tweet by Graeme McDonald, head of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives Some senior civil servants have sprung out of purdah with relish.
(9) A second source close to the talks said that even if a sale was agreed before the Scottish government went into purdah, it might not mean that all of the workforce was rehired immediately.
(10) James Slack, May’s new official spokesman and former Daily Mail political editor, is a trusted member of the communications team but has no role in the election because he is bound by civil service rules on purdah.
(11) Morgan either has to decide by the end of the month when pre-election “purdah” prevents the government from making new or controversial announcements or hold off until after 7 May.
(12) Is it possible for a civil servant to unknowingly submit a controversial project for ministerial sign-off and for the minister to approve something he or she should not under purdah rules?
(13) The social system of purdah which restricts extrafamilial activities places workers in conflict with established social and cultural norms.
(14) This would mean that the "purdah" rules, which restrict government announcements during an election campaign, would apply while negotiations took place to form a new administration.
(15) The status of women, and their families in turn, has traditionally relied on the keeping of purdah (i.e., the veil and the strict seclusion of women from the world of men), complete sexual division of labor, and relative freedom from menial work.
(16) So the likelihood is very low.” Another area purdah restrictions affect is departments’ written correspondence with MPs.
(17) If you work for the UK government or a local authority you have probably come across the term purdah.
(18) Paul Maltby, director of data projects at the Department for Communities and Local Government, was back on Twitter, regretting the time he’d missed on social media: Tweet by Paul Maltby, director of data at the Government Digital Service By the end of the day, Maltby was clearly happy to be back in the fray: Tweet by Paul Maltby But purdah isn’t just about public servants being careful about what they say.
(19) Some local government officers and civil servants are already in purdah because of the local elections and mayoral elections taking place on 4 May.
(20) While the everyday business of central and local government continues in the run-up to the elections, all staff must be scrupulous in the purdah period to ensure that public resources are not used for party political purposes and must not undertake any activity that could call into question their political impartiality.