purdah

1. (countable, chiefly South Asia, also figuratively) A curtain, especially one used in some Hindu or Muslim traditions to conceal women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers.Examples: "As she passed through the dining-room she heard, behind the purdah that cloaked the drawing-room door, her husband's voice, […]"; ""Come and see my wife a little then," said Hamidullah, and they spent twenty minutes behind the purdah."South-Asiaalsocountablefiguratively

2. (by extension)broadlycountable

3. (by extension)Examples: "He was won by her love for him, by a loyalty that implied something more than submission, and by her efforts to educate herself against that lifting of the purdah that would come in the next generation if not in theirs."broadlyuncountable

4. (by extension)Examples: "The diagnosis of Kit's malady was soon verified, and Fleur went into purdah."; "Still, though the lettrist movement was not casual—members might be fined, put in purdah, or even expelled for malingering—aesthetic pluralism remained in effect."broadlyfigurativelyuncountable

5. (by extension)Examples: "Despite Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris's reassurance that "the White Paper is coming" it was further delayed by the period of purdah that preceded local elections held on May 6."UKbroadlycountable

6. (by extension)broadlyobsoleterareuncountable