purdah

A curtain or screen, used mainly in India to keep women separate from men or strangers.

The Hindu or Muslim system of sex segregation, practiced especially by keeping women in seclusion.

Social seclusion.

In India, to screen with a purdah.

In India, a curtain.

A curtain screening women of superior rank from the sight of men and from contact with strangers.

Hence — The kind of seclusion in which such women live, constituting a mark of rank.

The material of which the curtain is made; especially, a fine kind of matting, or a cotton cloth woven in white and blue stripes.

A curtain or screen; also, a cotton fabric in blue and white stripes, used for curtains.