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

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.

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 Driscoll, James R. [pseud.]

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

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

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

Then, as her daughters became wiser, they invented the weeping business, the swooning business, and the curtain lecture business; they went for our pocket-books and they got them, and petticoat government became a probability.

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