Definition of "curtain call" [curtain call]

• The appearance of performers or a performer at the end of a performance to receive applause from the audience. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Eighth grade was the eve of an academic path, when a few of my classmates left to go to vocational school; the all-night walk around the city after graduation was the curtain call of childhood and the eve of the next morning, when boys suddenly grew tall and brazen; the marathon of university entrance exams was the eve of self-sufficiency and freedom—all these things, although nerve-wrecking and difficult, have led to something else."