hair shirt en
1hair 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 …
2Hair 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… …
3hair-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 …
4hair 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… …
5hair shirt — n a shirt made of rough uncomfortable cloth containing hair, worn in the past by some religious people to punish themselves …
6hair shirt — ► NOUN ▪ a shirt made of stiff cloth woven from horsehair, formerly worn by penitents and ascetics …
7hair shirt — n. a shirt of haircloth, worn over the skin as a penance …
8hair shirt — hair′ shirt′ n. rel a garment of coarse haircloth, worn next to the skin as a penance • Etymology: 1350–1400 …
9hair shirt — noun an uncomfortable shirt made of coarse animal hair; worn next to the skin as a penance • Hypernyms: ↑shirt * * * 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… …
10hair 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… …
