под занавес

• ПОД ЗАНАВЕС{{}}

[PrepP; Invar; adv]

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⇒ right before the conclusion of sth., at the very end of sth. (often used in refer, to one's saving the most effective statement, remark, item etc for the end of a written piece, speech, recital etc):

- as (just before) the curtain falls (comes down);

- at (before) curtainfall (curtain-fall).

     ♦ И наконец [в конце статьи], так сказать, под занавес, я наносил заключительный удар. Но как раз в это место статьи и вкралась опечатка, из-за которой впоследствии и поднялось столько шума (Доморовский 1). Finally, [at the end of the article,] just before curtain-fall as it were, I delivered the conclusive blow. But it so happened that a printers error crept into the article at that very point and it was this which was the cause of all the subsequent trouble (1a).

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← From an old custom among playwrights of giving actors especially effective lines at the very end of a play, act, or scene.