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Webster 1913 Edition

Sinister

Sin′is-ter

(sĭn′ĭs-tẽr; 277)
,
Adj.
[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
Shakespeare
☞ 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
,
Noun.
–
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
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sinister

SIN'ISTER

,
Adj.
[L. Probably the primary sense is weak, defective.]
1.
Left; on the left hand, or the side of the left hand; opposed to dexter or right; as the sinister cheek; or the sinister side of an escutcheon.
2.
Evil; bad; corrupt; perverse; dishonest; as sinister means; sinister purpose. He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
3.
Unlucky; inauspicious.
4.
Sinister aspect, in astrology, 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.

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