bend sinister

English

Noun

bend sinister (plural bends sinister)

  1. (heraldry) 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. (figuratively, dated) Bastardy, (by extension) a defect or stigma.
    • 1904, Warwick Deeping, Love Among the Ruins, page 101:
      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.
    • 1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1, page 105:
      Rumour credited his family tree with both a 50 per cent. Jewish strain and a bend sinister.
    • 2021, J. S. Emery, A Clockwork River‎[1], →ISBN:
      “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!”

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Further reading

References

  • The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at [2]
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