bend sinister
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That in heraldry, a bend sinister indicates bastardy.
From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2019
The scarpe is the diminutive of the bend sinister, and is half its size.
From The Manual of Heraldry; Fifth Edition Being a Concise Description of the Several Terms Used, and Containing a Dictionary of Every Designation in the Science by Anonymous
An ordinary with its ends cut off, borne sinister as a mark of bastardy, and containing one fourth in breadth of the bend sinister; Ð called also bastard bar.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah
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