Dictionary

hairshirt en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• hârʹshərt (US)
• /ˈhɛɹʃɝt/ (US)
• /ˈhɛəʃɜːt/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From hair + shirt.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable, relational) Advocating or adopting a relatively ascetic lifestyle, especially for environmentalist reasons.
   • No hair-shirt ascetiscism, but far less consumerism, less shopping for the sake of shopping, less conspicuous consumption, less waste. There will be less trade, but it will be more judicious, and there will be more 'self-reliance' in energy, food and manufacturing. 2005 November 6, Juliette Jowit, “Porritt warns greens to mend 'negative' ways”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
   • Boris Johnson has called on the government to drop its "hair shirt, Stafford Cripps" agenda as he outlined a seven-point growth plan for London involving building thousands of new homes and investment in major infrastructure projects. 2013 January 25, Larry Elliott, “Boris Johnson urges Osborne to drop 'hair shirt' agenda for UK economy”, in The Guardian, retrieved 05 Feb 2021:
   • Ireland – the "poster child" for the International Monetary Fund and EU's bailout programmes – endured its sixth hairshirt budget on Wednesday with the imposition of €2.5bn (£2bn) of cuts as its finance minister insisted the country is emerging from the fiscal crisis. 2012 December 5, Henry McDonald, “Ireland budget imposes more austerity”, in The Guardian:
   • The gloomy contentions of “hairshirt economists” who want more public and less private spending were assailed today by Robert W. Sarnoff, chairman of the National Broadcasting Company. 1960 October 13, “‘Hairshirt Economists’ Scored For Pushing Public Spending”, in The New York Times, page 51:

Forms

Relateds

flagellant · self-flagellation

Translations (1)

pl pokutny (hairshirt (adj.))

hairshirt en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• hârʹshərt (US)
• /ˈhɛɹʃɝt/ (US)
• /ˈhɛəʃɜːt/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From hair + shirt.

Meanings

1. A shirt made of haircloth; especially one worn by ascetics or the penitent.
   • He is practically a total abstainer and I can affirm that he sleeps on a straw litter and eats the most Spartan food, cold dried grocer’s peas. He wears a hairshirt winter and summer and scourges himself every Saturday. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 466:
2. (figuratively) A state of penitence and humility.
   • And when he went on to say, “The curse must be within ourselves,” Muir bequeathed us a hairshirt: the guilty conscience that plagues so many of us when we see what we are doing to the rest of nature. 1981 June 21, Joseph Kastner, “Whole Earth Controversy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page 71:

Forms

Deriveds

hairshirtism · hairshirted

Synonyms

sackcloth · cilice · horsehair shirt

Translations (9)

pl włosiennica (shirt made of haircloth) · sv tagelskjorta (shirt made of haircloth) · cy crys rhawn (shirt made of haircloth) · cmn 褐衣 (shirt made of haircloth) · de Büßerhemd (shirt made of haircloth) · pl pokuta (state of penitence and humility) · cmn 粗衣 (shirt made of haircloth) · mk власе́ница (shirt made of haircloth) · de härenes Hemd (shirt made of haircloth)