View synonyms for bend sinister

bend sinister

noun

, Heraldry.

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

bend sinister

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

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First recorded in 1615–25

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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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