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bend sinister
noun
- a diagonal band extending from the sinister chief of an escutcheon to the dexter base: a supposed mark of bastardy.
bend sinister
noun
- heraldry a diagonal line bisecting a shield from the top right to the bottom left, typically indicating a bastard line
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Word History and Origins
Origin of bend sinister1
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Example Sentences
His proud crest and armorial bearings support him: no bend-sinister slurs his poetical escutcheon!
The bend sinister (Fig. 82), is very frequently stated to be the mark of illegitimacy.
Crest: a cornucopia fesswise, surmounted by a dexter hand couped proper, holding a key in bend sinister or.
Such a coat would be "per bend sinister ermine and erminois, a lion rampant counterchanged."
The "barre sinistre" is merely the French translation of bend sinister, the French word "barre" meaning a bend.
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