bend sinister

American  

noun

Heraldry.

1. a diagonal band extending from the sinister chief of an escutcheon to the dexter base: a supposed mark of bastardy.

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bend sinister British  

noun

1. heraldry a diagonal line bisecting a shield from the top right to the bottom left, typically indicating a bastard line

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Etymology

Origin of bend sinister

First recorded in 1615–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bend sinister

That in heraldry, a bend sinister indicates bastardy.

From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2019

By what legitimatizing process the bend sinister was erased, and the marquisate preserved, we have hitherto been unable to ascertain.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847 by Various

That a market should be held upon the Sabbath in this city, is a "bend sinister" upon its escutcheon.

From The South-West By a Yankee. In Two Volumes. Volume 2 by Ingraham, Jonathon Holt

There is a strange bend sinister in human nature, against sincerity, that will indulge itself even at the cost of life itself.

From The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Lever, Charles James

He even showed her his complicated coat-of-arms, which included a bend sinister, for he had royal blood in his veins; and this slanting rod interested Isabel as deeply as the moat under the window.

From Ancestors A Novel by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn