LACE-CURTAIN

PRONUNCIATION: (LAYS-kuhr-tuhn)

MEANING: adjective: Aspiring to or pretentiously displaying middle-class respectability.

ETYMOLOGY: From the lace curtains once fashionable in middle-class homes. Earliest documented use: 1824.

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LACK-CURTAIN - "early-matrimonial" style; sparsely-furnished

PLACE-CURTAIN - determining social status of the owner by inspection of the facade of an edifice from the street, particularly the window furnishings

GLACÉ-CURTAIN - the world outside after a grand sleet-storm