bend sinisterとは 意味・読み方・使い方

名詞

bend sinister (複数形 bends sinister)

1. (heraldry) A diagonal band on a coat of arms going from top right to bottom left (as you look at it), 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!”