Sin'is-ter, a.
(Synop., § 130), a. [Lat. sinister, Fr. sinistre, It. sinistro, Sp. siniestro.]
Sense 1. On the left hand, or the side of the left hand; left;—opposed to dexter or right; as, the sinister side of an escutcheon,—which is the side opposite to the right hand of the beholder. See ESCUTCHEON. “Here on his sinister cheek.” Shak.
Sense 2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil;—the left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as, sinister influences.
The duke of Clarence was soon after, by sinister means, made clean away. Shak.
Sense 3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity of purpose; perverse; dishonest; as, sinister aims.
He scorns to undermine another’s interest by any sinister or inferior arts. South.
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.
This word, among the poets, is usually accented si-nis'ter.