'Bar sinister' definitions:
Definition of 'bar sinister'
From: WordNet
noun
The status of being born to parents who were not married [syn: bastardy, illegitimacy, bar sinister]
noun
A mark of bastardy; lines from top right to bottom left [syn: bar sinister, bend sinister]
Definition of 'Bar sinister'
From: 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. [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]
Synonyms of 'bar sinister'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- achievement,
- alerion,
- animal charge,
- annulet,
- argent,
- armorial bearings,
- armory,
- arms,
- aspersion,
- attaint,
- azure,
- badge of infamy,
- bandeau,
- bantling,
- bar,
- bastard,
- bastard child,
- bastardism,
- bastardy,
- baton,
- bearings,
- bend,
- bend sinister,
- billet,
- black eye,
- black mark,
- blazon,
- blazonry,
- blot,
- blur,
- bordure,
- brand,
- broad arrow,
- by-blow,
- cadency mark,
- canton,
- censure,
- champain,
- chaplet,
- charge,
- chevron,
- chief,
- coat of arms,
- cockatrice,
- coronet,
- crescent,
- crest,
- cross,
- cross moline,
- crown,
- device,
- difference,
- differencing,
- disparagement,
- eagle,
- ermine,
- ermines,
- erminites,
- erminois,
- escutcheon,
- falcon,
- fess,
- fess point,
- field,
- file,
- flanch,
- fleur-de-lis,
- fret,
- fur,
- fusil,
- garland,
- griffin,
- gules,
- gyron,
- hatchment,
- helmet,
- heraldic device,
- honor point,
- illegitimacy,
- illegitimate,
- illegitimate child,
- illegitimateness,
- impalement,
- impaling,
- imputation,
- inescutcheon,
- label,
- lion,
- love child,
- lozenge,
- mantling,
- mark of Cain,
- marshaling,
- martlet,
- mascle,
- metal,
- motto,
- mullet,
- nombril point,
- octofoil,
- odium,
- onus,
- or,
- ordinary,
- orle,
- pale,
- paly,
- pean,
- pheon,
- pillorying,
- point champain,
- purpure,
- quarter,
- quartering,
- reflection,
- reprimand,
- reproach,
- rose,
- sable,
- saltire,
- scutcheon,
- shield,
- slur,
- smear,
- smirch,
- smudge,
- smutch,
- spot,
- spread eagle,
- stain,
- stigma,
- stigmatism,
- stigmatization,
- subordinary,
- taint,
- tarnish,
- tenne,
- tincture,
- torse,
- tressure,
- unicorn,
- vair,
- vert,
- wreath,
- yale