the.com/final curtain
The last bow, taken after the applause decides whether you deserved one.
means The definitive end of something — a performance, a career, a life, a venture — the point after which there is no second act.
from Straight from theater: the physical curtain that drops when a show is truly over, not just between acts. 'Curtain' has marked endings on stage since curtains were first used to close off scenes, and by extension 'final curtain' became a stock phrase for death or termination well beyond the stage — the moment the lights don't come back up.
- origin
- Literal stage curtain signaling the play has ended
- usage
- Now means any ending, especially death or defeat
- irony
- Encores exist because audiences refuse to accept it
- theater fact
- Curtain calls were once banned as too vain