curfew
curfew Lexical Profile
curfew Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A regulation or rule requiring people to remain indoors between specified hours, typically at night, or the specific time set by such a rule (as by a government or a parent).
"Her parents set a strict midnight curfew on weekends during the school year."
Historically, a signal, such as the ringing of an evening bell, ordering inhabitants to extinguish or cover their hearth fires and retire for the night, or the metal cover used to bank a fire.
"In medieval towns, the ringing of the evening curfew signaled that all domestic hearth fires had to be covered."
• verb
To impose a curfew upon a person, group, or area.
"Local authorities curfewed the coastal district overnight until the storm surge subsided."
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman 'curfeu' and Old French 'cuevrefeu', literally meaning 'cover fire' (from 'covrir', to cover, and 'feu', fire). It originally referred to a medieval regulation requiring an evening bell to be rung as a signal for inhabitants to cover or extinguish their hearth fires to prevent conflagrations.