Meaning
Literally, a short opening performance staged before the main play; figuratively, any minor event, match or announcement that serves as a preliminary to a larger one. The figurative sense now dominates outside theatre writing, especially in sports and diplomacy coverage. Neutral; in news prose it often implies that the following event is the real story. Regional use: General English (theatrical origin; figurative use common in British sports journalism).
Origin
From a real theatre practice, common in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, of filling a long evening with a short one-act piece before the full-length main play; the curtain-raiser literally raised the curtain on the programme, and its counterpart after the main work was the afterpiece. Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1886, in the literal playbill sense, and defines the figurative sense as a usually short preliminary to a main event, which developed afterwards. Wikipedia's article records that the little opening plays were often seen mainly by early arrivals in the pit and gallery while wealthier patrons dined, and it notes the extended sports usage, as when a youth match opens a fixture. So the anchor's claim, literal theatrical sense first and figurative sense later, is confirmed.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a curtain-raiser for
- curtain-raiser to the main event
- the curtain-raiser match
Usage Examples
- A student orchestra played as the curtain-raiser to the festival's opening gala.
- The two-minute teaser was only a curtain-raiser for the full product reveal on Thursday.
- The village derby served as a curtain-raiser to the cup final and, on the day, easily outdrew it.