hair shirt

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.

hair shirt

noun

1. a shirt made of haircloth worn next to the skin as a penance
2. a secret trouble or affliction

Word History and Origins

Origin of hair shirt¹

1350–1400; hair

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

“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

It's hard to know exactly what precipitated this sudden desire to have the media don a hair shirt over their coverage of the dossier, but it seems to stem from a recent ABC interview with Steele and the recent indictments of a handful of people by Special Prosecutor John Durham for lying to the FBI about it.

From Salon

It’s not long before she’s wearing a hair shirt and sleeping on the floor with rats.

From Los Angeles Times

Mr. Johnson voiced deep concern; his ministers warned of fresh reforms; Diana’s sons blamed the broadcaster for playing a role in their mother’s untimely death; and the BBC’s executives and journalists offered apologies so fulsome and contrite that it seemed as if the entire institution had clad itself in a hair shirt.

From New York Times