Sin"is*ter (s&ibreve;n"&ibreve;s*t&etilde;r; 277),
a. [Accented on the middle syllable by the older
poets, as Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden.] [L. sinister: cf. F.
sinistre.] 1. On the left hand, or the
side of the left hand; left; -- opposed to dexter, or
right. "Here on his sinister cheek."
Shak.
My mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
Bounds in my father's
Shak.
&fist; In heraldy the sinister side of an escutcheon is the
side which would be on the left of the bearer of the shield, and
opposite the right hand of the beholder.
2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous;
injurious; evil; -- the left being usually regarded as the unlucky
side; as, sinister influences.
All the several ills that visit earth,
Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
B. Jonson.
3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or
obliquity; perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister
aims.
Nimble and sinister tricks and
shifts.
Bacon.
He scorns to undermine another's interest by any
sinister or inferior arts.
South.
He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions
directed particularly toward himself.
Sir W.
Scott.
4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding
covert danger; as, a sinister countenance.
Bar sinister. (Her.) See under
Bar, n. -- Sinister
aspect (Astrol.), an appearance of two planets
happening according to the succession of the signs, as Saturn in
Aries, and Mars in the same degree of Gemini. -- Sinister
base, Sinister chief. See under
Escutcheon.
Sin"is*ter (s&ibreve;n"&ibreve;s*t&etilde;r; 277),
a. [Accented on the middle syllable by the older
poets, as Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden.] [L. sinister: cf. F.
sinistre.] 1. On the left hand, or the
side of the left hand; left; -- opposed to dexter, or
right. "Here on his sinister cheek."
Shak.
My mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
Bounds in my father's
Shak.
&fist; In heraldy the sinister side of an escutcheon is the
side which would be on the left of the bearer of the shield, and
opposite the right hand of the beholder.
2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous;
injurious; evil; -- the left being usually regarded as the unlucky
side; as, sinister influences.
All the several ills that visit earth,
Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
B. Jonson.
3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or
obliquity; perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister
aims.
Nimble and sinister tricks and
shifts.
Bacon.
He scorns to undermine another's interest by any
sinister or inferior arts.
South.
He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions
directed particularly toward himself.
Sir W.
Scott.
4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding
covert danger; as, a sinister countenance.
Bar sinister. (Her.) See under
Bar, n. -- Sinister
aspect (Astrol.), an appearance of two planets
happening according to the succession of the signs, as Saturn in
Aries, and Mars in the same degree of Gemini. -- Sinister
base, Sinister chief. See under
Escutcheon.
