Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

            My mother's blood Runs on the dexter cheek, and this
            sinister Bounds in my father's        --Shak.

   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.

   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.      --B. Jonson.

   3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity;
      perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims.

            Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts. --Bacon.

            He scorns to undermine another's interest by any
            sinister or inferior arts.            --South.

            He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions
            directed particularly toward himself. --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger;
      as, a sinister countenance.

   {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}.



   4. A bank of sand, gravel, or other matter, esp. at the mouth
      of a river or harbor, obstructing navigation.

   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.

   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.

   7. Any tribunal; as, the bar of public opinion; the bar of
      God.

   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.

   9. (Her.) An ordinary, like a fess but narrower, occupying
      only one fifth part of the field.

   10. A broad shaft, or band, or stripe; as, a bar of light; a
       bar of color.

   11. (Mus.) A vertical line across the staff. Bars divide the
       staff into spaces which represent measures, and are
       themselves called measures.

   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.

   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.

   13. (Mining)
       (a) A drilling or tamping rod.
       (b) A vein or dike crossing a lode.

   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.

   {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}, a plea 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.

Source : WordNet®

bar sinister
     n 1: the status of being born to parents who were not married
          [syn: {bastardy}, {illegitimacy}]
     2: a mark of bastardy; lines from top right to bottom left
        [syn: {bend sinister}]