hair shirt

American  

noun

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.

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hair shirt British  

noun

1. a shirt made of haircloth worn next to the skin as a penance

2. a secret trouble or affliction

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hair shirt Idioms  

1. A self-imposed punishment or penance, as in I apologized a dozen times—do you want me to wear a hair shirt forever? This term, mentioned from the 13th century on, alludes to wearing a coarse, scratchy hair shirt, the practice of religious ascetics. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1800s.

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Etymology

Origin of hair shirt

1350–1400; hair

Example Sentences

And that gave birth to the worst Wolverine, which also gave birth to the idea that the suit is a hair shirt.

From Los Angeles Times

“You don’t have to be vegan or take cold showers or wear a hair shirt, but just consuming less things is really helpful for the environment,” she said.

From Seattle Times

This is a coming-of-age story in which the transition from adolescence to adulthood is akin to swapping one hair shirt for another.

From Washington Post

He wore his perfectionism like a hair shirt, and he expected it of others.

From New York Times

Sam dons the hair shirt in this novel, but his coiled, bitter angst is tempered somewhat by his sense of humor, as satirical as it is self-aware.

From New York Times