Sinister base

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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