hair-shirt









hair-shirt


noun

  1. a garment of coarse haircloth, worn next to the skin as a penance by ascetics and penitents.
  2. self-imposed punishment, suffering, sacrifice, or penance.

noun

  1. a shirt made of haircloth worn next to the skin as a penance
  2. a secret trouble or affliction
n.

garment of ascetics and penitents, 1680s, from hair + shirt. Figurative use by 1884. Earlier, such a garment was called simply a hair.

A self-imposed punishment or penance, as in I apologized a dozen times—do you want me to wear a hair shirt forever? This term, mentioned from the 13th century on, alludes to wearing a coarse, scratchy hair shirt, the practice of religious ascetics. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1800s.

55 queries 0.580