curtain lecture

American  

noun

1. Older Use. a scolding administered in private by a wife to her husband.

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curtain lecture British  

noun

1. a scolding or rebuke given in private, esp by a wife to her husband

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Etymology

Origin of curtain lecture

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

curtain lecture

Parks left the subject and turned his attention to the bruised pilot, who came in for a curtain lecture.

From The Brighton Boys with the Flying Corps by James R. [pseud.] Driscoll

She seemed to me to be more forward than ever that morning, and I felt a suspicion that I was going to get a curtain lecture.

From The Conquest The Story of a Negro Pioneer by Oscar Micheaux

There was the menace of a curtain lecture in her face.

From The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories by Charles Weathers Bump

Somewhere west of me an accordion was whining variations on Annie Laurie, but, suddenly, its grievous voice was drowned by a curtain lecture addressed to a deep bass by an exasperated soprano.

From A Top-Floor Idyl by George Van Schaick

They stick to the curtain lecture business, but now they do it before the curtain.

From Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 29, October 15, 1870 by Various