'Sinister chief' definitions:

Definition of 'Sinister chief'

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]