Iron Curtain
WordNet
noun
(1) An impenetrable barrier to communication or information especially as imposed by rigid censorship and secrecy; used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe the demarcation between democratic and communist countries
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Specialised use of iron curtain.
- Used (in German) during World War II by Joseph Goebbels. In English it appeared in telegrams from Winston Churchill to Harry S. Truman in 1945 before being popularized by Churchill in a speech he gave at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri 5 March 1946. (Reference: wikipedia on Iron Curtain, and Nigel Rees, Sayings of the Century on telegrams.)
Noun
- The dividing line between western Europe and the Soviet controlled regions, especially during the Cold War.
- 5 March 1946: From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. — speech by Winston Churchill