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

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

From The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Brontë, Anne

Migwan hoped his wife was waiting for him at the top step, and listened to hear the curtain lecture he would receive.

From The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods Or, The Winnebagos Go Camping by Frey, Hildegard G. (Hildegard Gertrude)

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.

The constant complaints he was hitherto obliged to endure, will grow mute for ever, and the curtain lecture will be no more.

From By Water to the Columbian Exposition by Wisthaler, Johanna S.

She looked as amazed as we did, and I’ve no doubt gave him a sound curtain lecture on his folly that night.

From How to Cook Husbands by Worthington, Elizabeth Strong