curtain off

curtain off

English

Verb

curtain off (third-person singular simple present curtains off, present participle curtaining off, simple past and past participle curtained off)

1. To separate, isolate or block by means of a curtain or other barrier.
   • 1960, "Strike Town," Time, 14 November, 1960,

     The encircling, mile-high mountains of the Coeur d'Alene mining area, rich in lead, zinc and silver, curtain off the sunlight except for a few midday hours.

   • 1986, J. M. Coetzee, Foe, Penguin, 1987, Chapter III, p. 113,

     For furniture there was a table and chair, and a bed, slovenly made; one corner of the room was curtained off.

2. (figuratively) To isolate.
   • 1993, Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, New York: Vintage, 1994, Chapter Four, Section II, p. 312,

     I am talking about a way of regarding our world as amenable to investigation and interrogation without magic keys, special jargons and instruments, curtained-off practices.