From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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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.
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All the several ills that visit earth,
Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth. --B.
Jonson.
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3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity;
perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims.
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Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts. --Bacon.
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He scorns to undermine another's interest by any
sinister or inferior arts. --South.
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He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions
directed particularly toward himself. --Sir W.
Scott.
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4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger;
as, a sinister countenance.
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{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]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [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},
{sinister}, {threatening}]
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},
{sinister}]
3: on or starting from the wearer's left; "bar sinister"
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