Sinister

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]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sinister — is originally a Latin term for left or to the left (and by extension, left handedness), and is used in heraldry to refer to the left of the bearer of the arms, and to the right by the viewer s eyes. It is often used to mean evil.Sinister may also …   Wikipedia

  • sinister — sinister,[/p] baleful, malign, malefic, maleficent all mean seriously threatening, portending, or promising evil or disaster, usually imminent or already initiated evil or disaster. Sinister is the most commonly employed of these words and the… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Sinister — Жанр дэт метал Страна …   Википедия

  • sinister — [sin′is tər] adj. [ME sinistre < L sinister, left hand, or unlucky (side), orig. lucky (side) < IE base * sene , to prepare, achieve > Sans sánīyān, more favorable: early Roman augurs faced south, with the east (lucky side) to the left,… …   English World dictionary

  • sinister — early 15c., prompted by malice or ill will, from O.Fr. sinistre contrary, unfavorable, to the left, from L. sinister left, on the left side (opposite of dexter), perhaps from root *sen and meaning properly the slower or weaker hand [Tucker], but… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Sinister — Allgemeine Informatione …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Sinister — (lat.), 1) link; Sinistrae tibiae, s.u. Flöte; 2) linkisch, verkehrt; 3) ungünstig, unglücklich; dagegen in den Auspicien der Römer glücklich, von guter Vorbedeutung …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Sinister — (lat.), link, linkisch; bei Vorzeichen in der Religionssprache der Römer ursprünglich glückverheißend, später nach griechischer Theorie unheilverkündend …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • sinister — I adjective alarming, baleful, baneful, blameworthy, censurable, cold blooded, comminatory, conscienceless, contemptible, corrupt, creepy, cruel, culpable, dangerous, demoniac, demoniacal, deserving of condemnation, designing, despiteful,… …   Law dictionary

  • sinister — [adj] nasty, menacing adverse, apocalyptic, bad, baleful, baneful, blackhearted, corrupt, deleterious, dire, disastrous, dishonest, disquieting, doomful, evil, foreboding, harmful, hurtful, ill boding, inauspicious, injurious, lowering, malefic,… …   New thesaurus

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