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sinistermore about sinister

sinister


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  My  mother's  blood  Runs  on  the  dexter  cheek,  and  this 
  sinister  Bounds  in  my  father's  --Shak. 
 
  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. 
 
  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}. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  sinister 
  adj  1:  threatening  or  foreshadowing  evil  or  tragic  developments;  "a 
  baleful  look";  "forbidding  thunderclouds";  "his  tone 
  became  menacing";  "ominous  rumblings  of  discontent"; 
  "sinister  storm  clouds";  "a  sinister  smile";  "his 
  threatening  behavior";  "ugly  black  clouds";  "the 
  situation  became  ugly"  [syn:  {baleful},  {forbidding}, 
  {menacing},  {minacious},  {minatory},  {ominous},  {threatening}, 
  {ugly}] 
  2:  stemming  from  evil  characteristics  or  forces;  wicked  or 
  dishonorable;  "black  deeds";  "a  black  lie";  "his  black 
  heart  has  concocted  yet  another  black  deed";  "Darth  Vader 
  of  the  dark  side";  "a  dark  purpose";  "dark  undercurrents 
  of  ethnic  hostility";  "the  scheme  of  some  sinister 
  intelligence  bent  on  punishing  him"-Thomas  Hardy  [syn:  {black}, 
  {dark}] 
  3:  (heraldry)  on  or  starting  from  the  wearer's  left  "bar 
  sinister" 




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