curtailment (kertalment)

[ Know ye not that in the curtailment of time by indolence and sleep there is very great trouble? E. W. Lane , Modern Egyptians, I. 102. curtail-step (kėr'tāl-step), n. [For curtal - step , curtal , a ., + step .] The first or bottom step of a stair, when it is finished in a curved line at its outer end, or the end furthest from the wall. curtain (kértān), n. [Early mod. E. also curtine, court in, court a in, cortine, cortaine; curtyn , cortyn, cortine = Pr. Sp. Pg. It. cortina, a curtain, cortina , a small court, croft, curtain of a castle, a cloth screen, dim. of cor tis , a court: see court , n.] 1. A hanging screen of a textile fabric (or rarely of leather) used to close an opening, as a doorway or an alcove, to shut out the light from a window, and for similar purposes. See blind , shade , port ière , lambrequin ; also altar - curtain and hanging . Specifically-( a ) The large sheet of stuff used to inclose and conceal the stage in a theater. It is usually attached to a roller by its loose extremity, and is withdrawn by ings cut on them, forming a string-course. J.the in indows of inhabited romant H. Parker , Glo ary.