Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A curtain or screen, used mainly in India to keep women separate from men or strangers.
- noun The Hindu or Muslim system of sex segregation, practiced especially by keeping women in seclusion.
- noun Social seclusion.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In India, to screen with a purdah.
- noun In India, a curtain.
- noun A curtain screening women of superior rank from the sight of men and from contact with strangers.
- noun Hence — The kind of seclusion in which such women live, constituting a mark of rank.
- noun The material of which the curtain is made; especially, a fine kind of matting, or a cotton cloth woven in white and blue stripes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A curtain or screen; also, a cotton fabric in blue and white stripes, used for curtains.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
curtain , especially as used to conceal and divide women from men and strangers in someHindu orMuslim traditions. - noun rare A
striped cotton cloth which is used to makecurtains . - noun A long
veil , or other all-enveloping clothing, worn by women in some Muslim societies. - noun The state or system of
social gender seclusion in some Muslim or Hindu communities. - noun The time between the announcement and holding of an election, during which any governmental activities that may be construed as potentially benefiting or promoting a specific political party or prospective candidate are halted or suspended.
- noun The period after plans have been prepared but before the Chancellor of the Exchequer's annual budget is announced, when he refrains from discussing any matters which have relevance to the forthcoming budget.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a state of social isolation
- noun a screen used in India to separate women from men or strangers
- noun the traditional Hindu or Muslim system of keeping women secluded
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The origin of the term purdah is: "Purdah or Pardaa Persian: پرده, Urdu: پردہ, Hindi: पर्दा, literally meaning "curtain" is the practice of preventing men from seeing women.
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The reason for his decision to end his almost four-decade-long state of purdah is that he wants to lend his support to a new collection of his work, 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective.
Garry Trudeau: 'Doonesbury quickly became a cause of trouble' Ed Pilkington 2010
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She has been brought up somewhat on Western principles; has kept but casual purdah; is unbetrothed at eighteen; nor would any orthodox prince marry her.
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The run-up to an election is known as "purdah", during which there is a ban on public money being spent on policies or announcements that could affect the result.
Evening Standard - Home Ross Lydall 2011
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Traditionally, there's something called purdah, which prohibits women from going to public spaces ...
South Asian Women Caught Between Tradition and Modernity 2011
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The room was stuffy: the windows were shut and the green-and-white striped curtains drawn in purdah.
God’s Country 2008
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The room was stuffy: the windows were shut and the green-and-white striped curtains drawn in purdah.
God’s Country 2008
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It is wise in the hot weather to pull the purdah, which is the Indian way of saying to shut the door, in the face of a young and unattached girl with a tawny head and opalescent eyes; especially if the dust has long been undisturbed upon the threshold of the secret places of the male heart supposed to be entirely in your keeping.
Leonie of the Jungle Joan Conquest
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[246] The purdah is the curtain separating the women's apartments from the rest of the house.
The New World of Islam Lothrop Stoddard 1916
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During a general election campaign, civil servants go into what is called purdah, where policy-making is supposed to stop, to avoid politically sensitive announcements.
Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk 2009
madmouth commented on the word purdah
in Urdu a poetic/archaic term for a woman's veil
May 24, 2009