[OE. cilic, ad. L. cilicium:—Gr. Κιλίκιον, a coarse cloth orig. made of Cilician goat’s hair, f. Κιλικία Cilicia. In mod. Eng., a. F. cilice, or taken anew from Latin.] Hair-cloth; a rough garment made of hair-cloth, generally worn as a penitential robe. Also attrib.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xi. 21. In cilic & in asca hreownisse dydon.
1599. Life Sir T. More, in Wordsworth, Eccl. Biog. (1853), II. 53. In his youth or tender years he used to weare a cilice or hair-shirt.
c. 1610. Female Saints (E.E.T.S.), 186. After that she had layd the childe on her hayre cloth or cilice … she restored the infant whole to the mother.
1794. Mrs. Piozzi, Synon., II. 250. Nuns of some religious orders wear a hair cloth or cilice next their skin.
1812. Southey, Omniana, II. 277. A cilice bandage across the eyes.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., II. i. Monks … with their shaven crowns, hair-cilices, and vows of poverty.
