curfew
noun
Pam CarrollWomen's Wear DailySusan Soo-Hyun Chung
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In medieval Europe, a bell rang every evening at a fixed hour, and townspeople were required by law to cover or extinguish their hearth fires. It was the "cover fire" bell, or, as it was referred to in Anglo-French, coverfeu (from the French verb meaning "to cover," and the word for "fire"). By the time the English version, curfew, appeared, the authorities no longer regulated hearth fires, but an evening bell continued to be rung for various purposes—whether to signal the close of day, an evening burial, or enforcement of some other evening regulation. This "bell ringing at evening" became the first English sense of curfew. Not infrequently, the regulation signaled by the curfew involved regulating people's movement in the streets, and this led to the modern senses of the word.
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What is the origin of curfew?
During the Middle Ages, houses in European towns were often made of wood and were close together, and fires could quickly spread from house to house. To prevent this, people were required to put out or cover their hearth fires by a certain time in the evening. A bell was rung as a signal when the time had come. In early French this signal was called coverfeu, a compound of covrir, meaning “to cover,” and feu, “fire.” Even when hearth fires were no longer regulated, many towns had other rules that called for the ringing of an evening bell, and this signal was still called coverfeu. A common coverfeu regulation required people to be off the streets by a given time. That was the meaning of the word when it was borrowed into Middle English as curfew.
Examples of curfew in a Sentence
Claire Pedersen, ABC News, 19 Mar. 2024
In recent years, Miami Beach has implemented emergency curfews during spring break to control what some have described as chaos.
—Katie Wiseman, The Indianapolis Star, 13 Mar. 2024
The curfew will now be in effect from Monday night to Thursday morning.
—Jennifer Hansler, CNN, 11 Mar. 2024
The curfew is from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. weekdays and is valid for all of Port-au-Prince and surrounding cities that are part of the west regional departments.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024
Miami Beach officials said the city would implement curfews, bag checks, restricted beach access, DUI checkpoints and expensive parking fees.
—Daysia Tolentino, NBC News, 4 Mar. 2024
The app doesn’t have a curfew, so a teen could take a trip in the middle of the night without parental consent.
—Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 29 Feb. 2024
Children in the Northern Territory are due to go on school holiday next Friday – the curfew is expected to cover at least part of the break, but territory officials haven’t ruled out extending it, if needed.
—Hilary Whiteman, CNN, 29 Mar. 2024
In an effort to control gang violence, the 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in Port-au-Prince has been extended until Tuesday March 26.
—Erika Angulo, NBC News, 25 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'curfew.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near curfew
Cite this Entry
“Curfew.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curfew. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
curfew
noun
Middle English curfew "an order to be off the streets at a certain time," from early French coverfeu "signal to cover a hearth fire, curfew," from covrir "to cover" and feu "fire"
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