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

Who has no will but by her high permission, Who has not sixpence but in her possession; Who must to he, his dear friend's secrets tell, Who dreads a curtain lecture worse than hell.

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert

When my curtain lecture was ended, the owner authorized me to call his outfit together and give them such instructions as I saw fit.

From The Outlet by Adams, Andy

And Colonel Kirby stammered because she had made him think of his mother, and the tender prelude to a curtain lecture.

From The Winds of the World by Mundy, Talbot

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

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 Van Schaick, George