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

Is it in so numerous a company as this that one proceeds to indulge in a family explanation, or gives a curtain lecture to a young girl?

From Garrick's Pupil by Auguston Filon

Her discourse would have rendered the poor man very uneasy, indeed, had not "luck" extricated him from his dilemma on the next day succeeding the curtain lecture.

From Wise Saws and Modern Instances, Volume II (of 2) by Thomas Cooper

Mrs. Caudle herself would scarcely hazard a curtain lecture with this atrocious alternative in prospect.

From Satires And Profanities by G. W. (George William) Foote

I'm not going to stand a curtain lecture!

From The Two Wives Or, Lost and Won by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur

‘You gave him a curtain lecture, did you?’

From The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë