ˈcurtain-ˈlecture
‘A reproof given by a wife to her husband in bed’ (Johnson).
| 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 5 Often have you heard how much a superstitious wife, by her curtain lectures, hath wrought upon her Christian husband. 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 85, I am not awed..with the dreadfull Catechisme of a Curtain Lecture. 1710 Addison Tatler No. 243 ¶4 He was then lying under the Discipline of a Curtain-Lecture. 1846 D. Jerrold (title), Mrs. Caudle's Curtain-lectures. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. iii. (1876) 233 As confidential as a curtain-lecture. |
Hence ˌcurtain-ˈlecture v.
| 1859 G. Meredith R. Feverel iii, No curtain-lecturing with a pipe. |