If you say that it is curtains for someone or something, you mean that they are going to die, be forced to leave or end. One more defeat for this team and it will surely be curtains for the manager. If the vote is yes, it's curtains for us and a whole way of life will disappear. Note: You can also say that something means curtains or spells curtains for someone or something. A diagnosis like that doesn't always mean curtains. The loss of ace striker, Joe Holdsworth, at the start of the season could have spelled curtains for the club. Note: The curtains referred to here are the curtains at the front of the stage in a theatre.