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Definition of purdah - 3 dictionary results

pur⋅dah

  [pur-duh]
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–noun (in India, Pakistan, etc.)
1. the seclusion of women from the sight of men or strangers, practiced by some Muslims and Hindus.
2. a screen, curtain, or veil used for this purpose.
Also, purda, pardah.

Origin:
1790–1800; < Hindi, Urdu pardah curtain < Pers
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pur·dah   (pûr'də)   
n.  
    1. A curtain or screen, used mainly in India to keep women separate from men or strangers.
    2. The Hindu or Muslim system of sex segregation, practiced especially by keeping women in seclusion.
  2. Social seclusion: "Never have artists been more separate: their inordinate fame, wealth, drug use have driven them into luxurious purdah" (D. Keith Mano).

[Urdu pardah, veil, from Persian, from Middle Persian pardak, from Old Persian *paridaka-, from pari-dā-, to place over : pari, around, over; see per1 in Indo-European roots + dā-, to place; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Purdah

Pur"dah\, n. [Per. parda a curtain.] A curtain or screen; also, a cotton fabric in blue and white stripes, used for curtains. --McElrath.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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