Sinister /(sĭn"ĭs*tẽr; 277)/

Sin·is·ter

Sinister

a.
  1. On the left hand, or the side of the left hand; left; -- opposed to dexter, or right.
    My mother's blood Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister Bounds in my father's
  2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil; -- the left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as, sinister influences.
    All the several ills that visit earth, Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
  3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims.
    Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.
    He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
    He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself.
  4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger; as, a sinister countenance.

Phrases & Compounds
Bar sinister
See under Bar, n.
Sinister aspect
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
See under Escutcheon.