The adj austere has 3 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (1) austere, severe, stark, stern -- (severely simple; "a stark interior")
2. austere, stern -- (of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect; "an austere expression"; "a stern face")
3. ascetic, ascetical, austere, spartan -- (practicing great self-denial; "Be systematically ascetic...do...something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it"- William James; "a desert nomad's austere life"; "a spartan diet"; "a spartan existence")