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ft 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.

Left-handed; hence, unlucky. [Obs.] Lovelace.

In a sinister manner. Wood.

Takes away. [Obs.] Without any sinister suspicion of anything being added or adempt. Latimn.

Wrong, or not commonly used; clumsy; sinister; as, the awk end of a rod (the but end). [Obs.] Golding.

t each end; -- formerly used for destroying the masts or rigging in naval combat. -- Bar sinister (Her.), a term popularly but erroneously used for baton, a mark of illegitimacy. See Baton. -- Bar tracery (Arch.), ornamental stonework resembling bars of iron twisted into the forms required. -- Blank bar (Law). See B…

An ordinary with its ends cut off, borne sinister as a mark of bastardy, and containing one fourth in breadth of the bend sinister; -- called also bastard bar. See Bend sinister.

r a fifth part of the field. It crosses the field diagonally from the dexter chief to the sinister base. Bend sinister (Her.), an honorable ordinary drawn from the sinister chief to the dexter base.

ing of two broad bands of the width of the bar, issuing, respectively from the dexter and sinister bases of the field and conjoined at its center.

The upper third part of the field. It is supposed to be composed of the dexter, sinister, and middle chiefs. In chief. (a) At the head; as, a commander in chief. (b) (Eng. Law) From the king, or sovereign; as, tenure in chief, tenure directly from the king.

Accountable; responsible; sensitive. [Obs.] I am very comptible even to the least sinister usage. Shak.

Turned in a direction which is not the usual one; -- said of an animal turned to the sinister which is usually turned to the dexter, or the like.

Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. Locke. We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. Bacon.

ed over it, as in the cut. The lion of England and the lilies of France without the baton sinister, under which, according to the laws of heraldry, they where debruised in token of his illegitimate birth. Macaulay.

A crescent with the horns directed towards the sinister. Cussans.

Pertaining to, or situated on, the right hand; right, as opposed to sinister, or left. On sounding wings a dexter eagle flew. Pope.

or power; a circle, the emblem of eternity. "His cicatrice, an emblem of war, here on his sinister cheek." Shak.

t hand of the knight who bears the shield on his arm is called dexter, and the other side sinister.

Not favorable; unlucky; unpropitious; sinister. [R.] Ld. Lytton.

A distorted expression of the face, or an indirect glance of the eye, conveying a sinister or immodest suggestion. With jealous leer malign Eyed them askance. Milton. She gives the leer of invitation. Shak. Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer. Pope.