bend sinister
noun1
Government, Heraldry, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Monarchy, Nobility, Politics A diagonal band on a coat of arms going from the sinister chief (the viewer's top right) to the dexter base, sometimes erroneously held to indicate bastardy.
2
Dated, Figuratively Bastardy, (by extension) a defect or stigma.
- A ‘bend sinister’ ran athwart his reputation as a priest. Men muttered that he was an infidel, a blasphemous vagabond, versed in all the damnable heresies of antiquity.1904, Warwick Deeping, Love Among the Ruins, page 101:
- Rumour credited his family tree with both a 50 per cent. Jewish strain and a bend sinister.1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1, page 105:
1 more example
- “I am a gentleman,” he began slowly, his back still turned, and his fingers moving busily. “Or rather, the blood of a gentleman flows through my veins.” […] “A bend sinister. Poor lad!”2021, J. S. Emery, A Clockwork River, →ISBN:
- Derived terms
- per bend sinister
- Related terms
- bar sinister, baton sinister