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 November 14, “Strike Town”, in Time:

     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, chapter III, in Foe, Penguin, published 1987, page 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, published 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.