cilice

American  

[sil-is] / ˈsɪl ɪs /

noun

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

2. haircloth.

---

cilice British  

/ ˈsɪlɪs /

noun

1. a haircloth fabric or garment

---

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

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

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

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

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---