hairshirt

plural hairshirts · alternative hair shirt · alternative hair-shirt

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

   Synonyms: cilice, horsehair shirt, sackcloth

2. figurativelyA 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

alternative hair shirt · alternative hair-shirt

1. not comparablerelationalAdvocating or adopting a relatively ascetic lifestyle, especially for environmentalist reasons.

   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

   3 more examples

   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

   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

   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