Bar sinister

Sinister Sin"is*ter (s[i^]n"[i^]s*t[~e]r; 277), a.

Note: [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. [1913 Webster]

My mother's blood Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister Bounds in my father's --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Note: 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. [1913 Webster]

2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil; -- the left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as, sinister influences. [1913 Webster]

All the several ills that visit earth, Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth. --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]

3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims. [1913 Webster]

Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts. --South. [1913 Webster]

He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger; as, a sinister countenance. [1913 Webster]

{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}. [1913 Webster]