[syn: bar sinister, bend sinister]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
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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.
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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.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bar \Bar\ (b[aum]r), n. [OE. barre, F. barre, fr. LL. barra, W.
bar the branch of a tree, bar, baren branch, Gael. & Ir.
barra bar. [root]91.]
1. A piece of wood, metal, or other material, long in
proportion to its breadth or thickness, used as a lever
and for various other purposes, but especially for a
hindrance, obstruction, or fastening; as, the bars of a
fence or gate; the bar of a door.
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Thou shalt make bars of shittim wood. --Ex. xxvi.
26.
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2. An indefinite quantity of some substance, so shaped as to
be long in proportion to its breadth and thickness; as, a
bar of gold or of lead; a bar of soap.
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3. Anything which obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an
obstruction; a barrier.
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Must I new bars to my own joy create? --Dryden.
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4. A bank of sand, gravel, or other matter, esp. at the mouth
of a river or harbor, obstructing navigation.
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5. Any railing that divides a room, or office, or hall of
assembly, in order to reserve a space for those having
special privileges; as, the bar of the House of Commons.
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6. (Law)
(a) The railing that incloses the place which counsel
occupy in courts of justice. Hence, the phrase at the
bar of the court signifies in open court.
(b) The place in court where prisoners are stationed for
arraignment, trial, or sentence.
(c) The whole body of lawyers licensed in a court or
district; the legal profession.
(d) A special plea constituting a sufficient answer to
plaintiff's action.
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7. Any tribunal; as, the bar of public opinion; the bar of
God.
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8. A barrier or counter, over which liquors and food are
passed to customers; hence, the portion of the room behind
the counter where liquors for sale are kept.
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9. (Her.) An ordinary, like a fess but narrower, occupying
only one fifth part of the field.
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10. A broad shaft, or band, or stripe; as, a bar of light; a
bar of color.
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11. (Mus.) A vertical line across the staff. Bars divide the
staff into spaces which represent measures, and are
themselves called measures.
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Note: A double bar marks the end of a strain or main division
of a movement, or of a whole piece of music; in
psalmody, it marks the end of a line of poetry. The
term bar is very often loosely used for measure, i.e.,
for such length of music, or of silence, as is included
between one bar and the next; as, a passage of eight
bars; two bars' rest.
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12. (Far.) pl.
(a) The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper
jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed.
(b) The part of the crust of a horse's hoof which is bent
inwards towards the frog at the heel on each side,
and extends into the center of the sole.
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13. (Mining)
(a) A drilling or tamping rod.
(b) A vein or dike crossing a lode.
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14. (Arch.)
(a) A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.
(b) A slender strip of wood which divides and supports
the glass of a window; a sash bar.
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Bar shoe (Far.), a kind of horseshoe having a bar across
the usual opening at the heel, to protect a tender frog
from injury.
Bar shot, a double headed shot, consisting of a bar, with a
ball or half ball at 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 Blank.
Case at bar (Law), a case presently before the court; a
case under argument.
In bar of, as a sufficient reason against; to prevent.
Matter in bar, or Defence in bar, any matter which is a
final defense in an action.
Plea in bar, a plea which goes to bar or defeat the
plaintiff's action absolutely and entirely.
Trial at bar (Eng. Law), a trial before all the judges of
one the superior courts of Westminster, or before a quorum
representing the full court.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
bar sinister
n 1: the status of being born to parents who were not married
[syn: bastardy, illegitimacy, bar sinister]
2: a mark of bastardy; lines from top right to bottom left [syn:
bar sinister, bend sinister]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
145 Moby Thesaurus words for "bar sinister":
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