| 释义 |
sinistral, a.|ˈsɪnɪstrəl|
Also 5 sinistralle, 6 synys-, synis-, sinistrall.
[a. OF. sinistral (senestral), or ad. med.L. *sinistrālis: see sinister and -al1.]
I.
†1. Adverse; unlucky. Obs. rare.
c1475Harl. Contin. Higden (Rolls) VIII. 445 Dredynge not sinistralle fortune in batells.
†2. Likely, or designed, to cause mischief. Obs.
1534in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 298 To geue to yow notycyon of certyn synystrall matters, contrary to or realme of Ynglond. 1536Boorde Let. in Introd. Knowl. (1870) 52 Stultycyusly thorow synystrall words, I dyd as many of þat order doth. 1561F. Cox Retraction (title-p.), Certain sinistral and devilish acts.
†3. Darkly suspicious; very unfavourable. Obs.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 365 Neither will they therefore conceive any sinistrall suspicion of so great a king. Ibid. 392 b, Divers men have had a sinistrall opinion of him. 1572Kethe Serm. Blandford Pref. A 2, Their sinistral reportes of my Sermon.
†4. Heterodox; unsound. Obs.
1545Coverdale Abridgem. Erasm. Enchirid. Prol., But what so euer is spoken..that same is..iudged of them to be of a wrong and synistrall oppinion. 1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. xvi. (1870) 165 Synistrall opinions, as concernynge prestes to haue wyues, wyth such like matters.
II.
5. a. Situated on the left side of the body; of or pertaining to the left hand or side.
1803J. Barclay New Anat. Nomencl. 121 As for the lateral parts of the trunk, Right and Left might still denote these; although..Dextral and Sinistral might perhaps be preferable. 1828Harrovian 185 A letter of goodly dimensions in the digits of our sinistral hand. 1894Nation 30 Aug. 163/3 Because so few people are left-handed, a very good clue is afforded when a sinistral sign is discovered.
b. spec. (See quot. 1866.)
1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 498/1 Shell thin..; internal lip dilated, the aperture ovate or ovato-lanceolate, sinistral. 1866R. Tate Brit. Mollusks iii. 45 When the aperture is on the left hand side it is said to be sinistral.
c. fig. Illegitimate. (Cf. left-handed a. 5.)
1897Hazlitt Four Generations II. 172 To the country which paid him so well, he proved himself grateful by distributing his sinistral representatives of both sexes pretty freely, when there was a berth at his disposal.
6. Conch. Characterized by turning spirally from right to left; reversed, left-handed.
1833Penny Cycl. I. 510/2 The Syphonariæ..are the only shells they can be confounded with, by their being sinistral. 1839Ibid. XIII. 499 [They] explain how..appearances place a sinistral animal in a dextral shell. 1881Bock Head-Hunters Borneo xxiii. 242 They also brought me a sinistral Helix of a dark, reddish brown colour. 1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 474 It is rare for a left-handed or sinistral twist to be normal in a given genus or species.
7. Of flat-fishes: Having what is properly the left side converted into the upper or coloured one.
1882Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 1 When referring to the pleuronectoids the terms right (dextral) or left (sinistral) are employed with reference to the position of the upper or coloured side.
8. Of persons: Left-handed. Also as n., a left-handed person.
1904Westm. Gaz. 6 Aug. 11/3 Two per cent. of mankind are naturally sinistral. 1927[see dextral a. 1 c]. 1964M. Critchley Developmental Dyslexia xiv. 84 The patient declared herself to be right-handed, but she wore her wrist-watch on the right arm like many sinistrals do.
9. Geol. Being or pertaining to a strike-slip fault in which the motion of the block on the farther side of the fault from an observer is towards the left. Opp. dextral.
1942E. M. Anderson Dynamics of Faulting v. 55 E. E. L. Dixon has distinguished the types of displacement as right-hand and left-hand heaves... The two classes of fault-planes may well be termed ‘dextral’ and ‘sinistral’. Ibid. 71 The Bala fault-zone..is undoubtedly sinistral. 1964A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. (ed. 2) ix. 219 In strike-slip faults the relative displacement of the block on the far side of the fault, as viewed from the ground, may have been either to the right (giving a right-lateral or dextral fault) or to the left (giving a left-lateral or sinistral fault). 1978Nature 5 Jan. 50/2 The Bathurst and McDonald faults.., which form the boundaries of the Slave wedge are major sinistral and dextral strike-slip fault systems that extend for hundreds of kilometres. |