curfew

Meaning

Noun

• Any regulation requiring people to be off the streets and in their homes by a certain time.
• The time when such restriction begins.
• A signal indicating this time.
• A fireplace accessory designed to bank a fire by completely covering the embers.
• A regulation in feudal Europe by which fires had to be covered up or put out at a certain fixed time in the evening, marked by the ringing of an evening bell.
• The evening bell, which continued to be rung in many towns after the regulation itself became obsolete.

Origin

• From Middle English curfu, from Old French cuevre-fu (French couvre-feu), from the imperative of covrir + fu.