Stephanie Davenport
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Learn the origin, history, and usage of the word curfew, which means a regulation or signal to restrict people's movement at night. Find examples, synonyms, related words, and more from the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorities, but may also be given by the owner of a house to those living in the household.
Learn the meaning of curfew, a rule that people must stay at home or off the streets at night, especially during a war or a crisis. Find out how to use it in sentences and how to say it in different languages.
a rule that everyone must stay home between particular times, usually at night, especially during a war or a period of political trouble: a midnight curfew. impose a curfew Stores, offices, and schools shut down, and the government imposed a curfew. lift a curfew The mayor lifted a curfew that had been imposed on the city.
Learn how the word curfew evolved from a 14th century bell warning people to cover their fires to a modern restriction on being outside at night. Find out the etymology, history and examples of curfew in different contexts.
noun. an official regulation setting restrictions on movement, esp after a specific time at night. the time set as a deadline by such a regulation. in medieval Europe. the ringing of a bell to prompt people to extinguish fires and lights. the time at which the curfew bell was rung. the bell itself.
Curfew is a rule or law that sets a time that certain people have to be off the streets. A town may set a curfew for teenagers, for example, although many parents impose a stricter curfew for their own kids.
