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

Sometimes their hour or two was protracted to six o'clock next morning, when they staggered home to breakfast and a curtain lecture together.

From Round the Block by Bouton, John Bell

Every morning Victor gave himself a curtain lecture under the bed-quilt for the evening previous; the bed is a good confessional and audience-hall of conscience.

From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. I. A Biography by Jean Paul

I'm not going to stand a curtain lecture!

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

Then he added aloud, "A hurried journey on business, we will call it, a sudden journey on business, preceded by a little curtain lecture."

From Gertrude's Marriage by Heimburg, W.

Meanwhile the elder wife was eating her heart with vexation and forming resolutions to give her husband a curtain lecture.

From Tales of Bengal by Banerjea, S. B.