hair shirt

hair shirt
noun
an uncomfortable shirt made of coarse animal hair; worn next to the skin as a penance
• Hypernyms: ↑shirt

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noun
1. : a shirt made of coarse rough animal hair worn next to the skin as a penance

led him … to give himself to fasting, a hair shirt, and prayer — K.S.Latourette

2. : one that flagellates : scourge

the hair shirt of duty — L.D.Lewis

uncomfortable to live with — a regular hair shirt of a man — E.B.White

• hairshirted adjective

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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.
[1350-1400; cf. HAIR]

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hair shirt noun
1. A penitent's garment of haircloth
2. An intimate or secret affliction (figurative)
• • •
Main Entry: ↑hair

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hair shirt UK US noun [countable] [singular hair shirt plural hair shirts]
a shirt made of very rough cloth that some religious people wore in the past to punish themselves for things that they had done wrong
Thesaurus: clothes and accessories worn in the pasthyponym

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hair shirt,
1. a rough shirt or girdle made of horsehair, worn as a penance.
2. Figurative. an imposing of penance, austerity, or self-sacrifice: »

If low real interest rates and falling inflation are so important…then the hair shirt is the only answer (Financial Times).

3. Figurative. a person who advocates austere and self-sacrificing remedies: »

Although Orwell was certainly a bit of a hair shirt himself, he seemed to have a hair shirt's impatience with other hair shirts (Christian Science Monitor).

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1.
n. a shirt of haircloth, formerly worn by penitents and ascetics
2.
adj. (hair-shirt or hair-shirted) austere and self-sacrificing

a hair-shirted existence advocated by ecofundamentalists

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ˌhair ˈshirt f12 [hair shirt hair shirts] noun
a shirt made of rough cloth containing hair, worn in the past by people who wished to punish themselves for religious reasons

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • hair shirt — hair shirts 1) N COUNT A hair shirt is a shirt made of rough uncomfortable cloth which some religious people used to wear to punish themselves. He was sent barefoot wearing only a hair shirt into the wilderness as a penance. 2) N COUNT If you say …   English dictionary

  • Hair shirt — Hair Hair (h[^a]r), n. [OE. her, heer, h[ae]r, AS. h[=ae]r; akin to OFries. h[=e]r, D. & G. haar, OHG. & Icel. h[=a]r, Dan. haar, Sw. h[*a]r; cf. Lith. kasa.] 1. The collection or mass of filaments growing from the skin of an animal, and forming… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • hair-shirt — garment of ascetics and penitents, 1680s, from HAIR (Cf. hair) + SHIRT (Cf. shirt). Figurative use by 1884. Earlier, such a garment was called simply a hair …   Etymology dictionary

  • hair shirt — noun count a shirt made of very rough cloth that some religious people wore in the past to punish themselves for things they had done wrong put on/wear a hair shirt to do something in order to show that you feel very sorry and guilty about… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • hair shirt — n a shirt made of rough uncomfortable cloth containing hair, worn in the past by some religious people to punish themselves …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • hair shirt — ► NOUN ▪ a shirt made of stiff cloth woven from horsehair, formerly worn by penitents and ascetics …   English terms dictionary

  • hair shirt — n. a shirt of haircloth, worn over the skin as a penance …   English World dictionary

  • hair shirt — hair′ shirt′ n. rel a garment of coarse haircloth, worn next to the skin as a penance • Etymology: 1350–1400 …   From formal English to slang

  • hair shirt — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms hair shirt : singular hair shirt plural hair shirts a shirt made of very rough cloth that some religious people wore in the past to punish themselves for things that they had done wrong • put on/wear a hair… …   English dictionary

  • hair-shirt — adjective self sacrificing or austere • Syn: ↑hair shirted • Pertains to noun: ↑hair shirt (for: ↑hair shirted), ↑hair shirt …   Useful english dictionary

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