something on or towards the left hand. Hence some derive the word sinister a sinendo, because the gods, by such auguries, permit us to proceed in our designs.

is ordinarily used amongst us for unlucky; though, in the sacred rights of divination, the Romans used it in an opposite sense. Thus avis sinistra, or a bird on the left hand, was esteemed a happy omen; and hence in the law of the twelve tables, Aea sinistra populi magister esto.

in Heraldry. The sinister side of an escutcheon is the left-hand side; the sinister chief, the left angle of the chief; the sinister base, the left-hand part of the base.

SINISTER Aspect, amongst astrologers, is 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.