haircloth

(har’kl6th), n. Stuff or cloth made wholly or partly of hair, especially of the hair of the horse or of the camel. The smooth glo y haircloth formerly much used for covering chairs, sofas, etc., has the weft of the long hairs of horses’ tails and the warp usually of linen yarn. Coarser haircloth is made for various purposes (in some countries for garments) of the shorter hairs of the horse and of various other animals, twisted together and used for both warp and weft. The sackcloth of the Bible was of this character. Shirts of such haircloth, rough and prickly, were formerly often worn next the skin by ascetics an penitents. See hair, N., 5, 6. ‘a