noun
Etymology
Origin of cilice
before 950; < Middle French; replacing Old English cilic < Latin cilicium < Greek kilíkion, neuter of kilíkios Cilician, so called because first made of Cilician goathair
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Nearly a third of the lay members are “numeraries,” who commit to lifelong celibacy and to acts of mortification, like the daily wearing of a cilice, a small spiked garter that can puncture the skin.
From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2012
This habit, however, is more noticeable in other passages where we come upon cilice, 467 egromancy, 468 verdurous, 469 vergier, 470 rondure, 471 purfled, 472 &c.
From The Life of Sir Richard Burton by Wright, Thomas
"O marriage-beauty garlanded For festival, O sumptuous flowery stole For rites of adoration!"�See instead A cilice drenched with torment of my soul!
From The Hours of Fiammetta A Sonnet Sequence by Taylor, Rachel Annand
To check it again I put off the cilice, and with it all other undergarments, retaining no more clothing than just the rough brown monkish habit.
From The Strolling Saint; being the confessions of the high and mighty Agostino D'Anguissola, tyrant of Mondolfo and Lord of Carmina in the state of Piacenza by Sabatini, Rafael
Ah! silver wedding-garment of the bride, Ah! fiery cilice, I am satisfied!
From The Hours of Fiammetta A Sonnet Sequence by Taylor, Rachel Annand
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
