draw the curtain

(redirected from draws the curtain)

draw the curtain

1. To open a curtain in order to see or reveal what is behind it. Please draw the curtain so we can get some more sunlight in here.

2. To conceal something; to keep something a secret. The police have been accused of drawing a curtain on the officer's alleged involvement with the teenager's murder.

draw the curtain

1. Pull a curtain back or to one side to let in more light or to discover what is behind it. For example, The sun was so pleasant I drew the curtains. [c. 1500]

2. Block or conceal something. For example, Let's draw the curtain over this matter; no one needs to know more. [c. 1500] Also see draw a veil.

See also: curtain, draw

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

The decision draws the curtain on a career that saw him play for Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Hannover 96, Leeds and VfL Bochum before ending in Finland.

I've dreaded this day for my whole life, says Forssell

PARIS: By making CARLA BRUNI France's new first lady, President NICOLAS SARKOZY draws the curtain on a paparazzi-fuelled soap opera that has played havoc with his image at home and abroad.

Soap opera ends?

Westovian Theatre Society draws the curtain on its current season this week with `Allo `Allo.

Out on the Toon

By focusing appropriately on the final, monumental scene, Sallis brings to light "the shining of theatre in theatre," much in the same way that Paulina draws the curtain aside to reveal a special truth of art to Leontes - and to those of us in the theatre, and also in the imagined "Theatre of Stone" (145).

Stone

The Swede wrote in his autobiography: "If Mourinho lights up a room, Pep Guardiola draws the curtains. Mourinho would become a guy I was basically willing to die for."

United 17-4 to eliminate champions; Dortmund draw sees Real cut

Meanwhile Wrexham loses vital school crossing patrols, closes five toilet blocks, shuts playgrounds, no doubt fencing them off at great cost in order to prevent being sued for accidental falls off those springy things, draws the curtains permanently on three libraries, puts school meals on a wartime footing, recycles your subsidised bus pass and shaves just 1.7% off payroll costs.

Cut staff before our vital services; LETTERS

If Mourinho lights up a room, Guardiola draws the curtains. I guessed that Guardiola was trying to match up to him.

I Am Zlatan: Swedish Striker Details Life under Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola and Talks about Snubbing Wenger

Lee Hadwin, a 36-year-old 'sleepwalking artist', says his creative skills kick in when he draws the curtains at night, but he can never remember working on the sketches he produces.

NIGHT VISION; AMAZING PLAN FOR UNCONSCIOUS SKETCHER: Boris in talks with sleep artist to use his strange gift in Trafalgar Square