| 释义 |
sinistrously, adv.|ˈsɪnɪstrəslɪ|
[f. prec.]
†1. Unfavourably, esp. with display of prejudice against a person. Obs.
In the first quot. there is connexion with sense 3.
1560Whitehorne tr. Machiavelli's Arte Warre 90 b, If the Capitaine..in lightynge of his horse fell, it was of y⊇ souldiours interpreted sinisterously. 1639Drummond of Hawthornden Magical Mirror Wks. (1711) 174 Evil-affected and malicious Spirits..may sinistrously interpret and calumniate the Resolution. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. i. xvi, To accuse, calumniate,..detract, or sinistrously interpret others. a1733R. North Lives (1826) I. 266 He had his jury to deal with, and if he did not tread upon eggs, they would conclude sinistrously, and be apt to find against his opinion.
2. In an erroneous manner; incorrectly, wrongly, perversely; awkwardly.
1581Satir. Poems Reform. xliv. 223 Scripture perqueir he hes sinistrouslie. a1670Hacket Cent. Serm. 354 Some of them take Scripture to prove it, but most untowardly;..yet more sinistrously from those words ‘If I be lifted up’. 1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. viii. 307 Digestive and abstersive remedies, applied sinistrously and amiss. 1699Bentley Phalaris xiii. 407 Mr. B.'s general Reflections upon the Stability of the Greek Tongue; which he has made so sinistrously, and with so very little Judgment. 1880S. Cox Comm. Job 416 The Critics misconceive Elihu as completely and sinistrously as Job was by his friends.
†3. Inauspiciously, unfortunately. Obs.
1607Earl Stirling J. Cæsar iii. ii, Pacifie thy brest Lest sorrows but sinistrously presage That which thou would'st not wish. 1611Cotgr., Sinistrement, sinisterously, vnluckily.
4. Corruptly; by underhand means.
1817Bentham Parl. Reform Introd. 209 The promiscuous multitude being by intellectual weakness prepared for the reception of mental poison—the select few, by sinistrously derived strength, for the injecting of it—observe [etc.].
5. With a tendency to use the left hand in preference to the right; with the left hand.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 190 Many in their infancy are sinistrously disposed, and divers continue all their life..left handed. 1830Blackw. Mag. XXVIII. 888 We often stand shut up in that sentry-looking canvass box, dexterously, and sinistrously fingering the string. |