Jotham, who has been much in the mountain latterly, being kept there by me and Hiram, has made a discovery, which he will not explain, he says, for he is bound by an oath; but the amount is, that he knows where the ore lies, and he has this day begun to dig.
hair shirt. 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. Origin of hair shirt.
A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments.