hairshirted

English

Alternative forms

• hair-shirted

Etymology

hairshirt +‎ -ed

Adjective

hairshirted (not comparable)

1. Wearing a hairshirt.
   • 2002, James Carroll, Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 115:

     The Gospels, contrasting Jesus with the hairshirted John the Baptist, and placing him with revelers and at dinner tables, […]

2. (figurative) Humble and penitent; ascetic.
   • 2010, Andrew Benett, Ann O'Reilly, Consumed: Rethinking Business in the Era of Mindful Spending, St. Martin's Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 113:

     Even a hairshirted Calvinist derived pleasure from his righteous self-deprivation: Sacrifice can be its own reward and source of perverse joy.

   • 2011, Andrew Marr, A History of 20th Century Britain‎^[1], Pan Macmillan, →ISBN:

     Distinguished scientists are beginning to confront the notion that to save the planet, an age of hair-shirted austerity is now necessary.