'Hair shirt' definitions:
Definition of 'hair shirt'
From: WordNet
noun
An uncomfortable shirt made of coarse animal hair; worn next to the skin as a penance
Definition of 'Hair shirt'
From: GCIDE
- Hair \Hair\ (h[^a]r), n. [OE. her, heer, h[ae]r, AS. h[=ae]r; akin to OFries. h[=e]r, D. & G. haar, OHG. & Icel. h[=a]r, Dan. haar, Sw. h[*a]r; cf. Lith. kasa.]
- 1. The collection or mass of filaments growing from the skin of an animal, and forming a covering for a part of the head or for any part or the whole of the body. [1913 Webster]
- 2. One the above-mentioned filaments, consisting, in vertebrate animals, of a long, tubular part which is free and flexible, and a bulbous root imbedded in the skin. [1913 Webster]
- Then read he me how Sampson lost his hairs. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- And draweth new delights with hoary hairs. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Hair (human or animal) used for various purposes; as, hair for stuffing cushions. [1913 Webster]
- 4. (Zool.) A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth. [1913 Webster]
- 5. (Bot.) An outgrowth of the epidermis, consisting of one or of several cells, whether pointed, hooked, knobbed, or stellated. Internal hairs occur in the flower stalk of the yellow frog lily (Nuphar). [1913 Webster]
- 6. A spring device used in a hair-trigger firearm. [1913 Webster]
- 7. A haircloth. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- 8. Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Hairs is often used adjectively or in combination; as, hairbrush or hair brush, hair dye, hair oil, hairpin, hair powder, a brush, a dye, etc., for the hair. [1913 Webster]
- Against the hair, in a rough and disagreeable manner; against the grain. [Obs.] "You go against the hair of your professions." --Shak.
- Hair bracket (Ship Carp.), a molding which comes in at the back of, or runs aft from, the figurehead.
- Hair cells (Anat.), cells with hairlike processes in the sensory epithelium of certain parts of the internal ear.
- Hair compass, Hair divider, a compass or divider capable of delicate adjustment by means of a screw.
- Hair glove, a glove of horsehair for rubbing the skin.
- Hair lace, a netted fillet for tying up the hair of the head. --Swift.
- Hair line, a line made of hair; a very slender line.
- Hair moth (Zool.), any moth which destroys goods made of hair, esp. Tinea biselliella.
- Hair pencil, a brush or pencil made of fine hair, for painting; -- generally called by the name of the hair used; as, a camel's hair pencil, a sable's hair pencil, etc.
- Hair plate, an iron plate forming the back of the hearth of a bloomery fire.
- Hair powder, a white perfumed powder, as of flour or starch, formerly much used for sprinkling on the hair of the head, or on wigs.
- Hair seal (Zool.), any one of several species of eared seals which do not produce fur; a sea lion.
- Hair seating, haircloth for seats of chairs, etc.
- Hair shirt, a shirt, or a band for the loins, made of horsehair, and worn as a penance.
- Hair sieve, a strainer with a haircloth bottom.
- Hair snake. See Gordius.
- Hair space (Printing), the thinnest metal space used in lines of type.
- Hair stroke, a delicate stroke in writing.
- Hair trigger, a trigger so constructed as to discharge a firearm by a very slight pressure, as by the touch of a hair. --Farrow.
- Not worth a hair, of no value.
- To a hair, with the nicest distinction.
- To split hairs, to make distinctions of useless nicety. [1913 Webster] hairball