[mass noun]the practice among women in certain Muslim and Hindu societies of living in a separate room or behind a curtain, or of dressing in all-enveloping clothes, in order to stay out of the sight of men or strangers 深闺习惯(或制度)(穆斯林或印度教社会的妇女为了避开男人或陌生人的视线而生活在单独的房间或帷幕后面,或身着全裹服饰) he never required them to observe purdah. 他从不要求她们蛰居内室。 ■the state of living in such a place or dressing in this way 身居深闺;身着全裹服饰 she was supposed to be in purdah upstairs. 她被要求身居楼上闺阁中。 ■(figurative)isolation or hiding (喻)隔离;躲藏 in the thirties and seventies, legs went into purdah. 30和70年代,人们把腿裹得严严实实。 ■[count noun]a curtain used for screening off women in this way (把妇女隔绝起来的)帷幕,面纱
语源
early 19th cent.: from Urdu and Persian parda 'veil, curtain'