cilice

American  

[sil-is] / ˈsɪl ɪs /

noun

1. a garment of haircloth formerly worn by monks; a hair shirt.

2. haircloth.

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cilice British  

/ ˈsɪlɪs /

noun

1. a haircloth fabric or garment

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cilice

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

That other sinful longing, she entirely effaced at last, thereby achieving something that had been impossible to prayers and fasting, to scourge and cilice.

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 Rafael Sabatini

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 Rafael Sabatini

For upwards of a month, then, the mild torture of the goat's-hair cilice did the office I required of it.

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 Rafael Sabatini

Ah! silver wedding-garment of the bride, Ah! fiery cilice, I am satisfied!

From The Hours of Fiammetta A Sonnet Sequence by Rachel Annand Taylor

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