(adjective) : scaevus, a, um, kindred with Sanscr. savya, laevus, sinister, as the Gr. σκαιός and the Germ. schief, oblique
* Left, that is on the left, towards the left side (rare; most freq. in Appul.; syn. laevus, sinister).
* Lit.: itinera portarum,i. e. running from right to left,Vitr. 1, 5, 2: iter,Serv. Verg. A. 3, 351.
* Trop.
* Awkward, perverse, stupid, silly: scaevus profecto et caecus animi forem, si, etc.,Gell. 12, 13, 4: mulier,App. M. 9, p. 223, 22: scaevus iste Romulus,Sall. H. Fragm. 1, 41, 5 Dietsch: fabula,Paul. Nol. Carm. 11, 44.
* Of fortune, unfavorable, untoward, unlucky: fortunam scaevam an saevam verius dixerim, App. M. 2, p. 120, 21: praesagium,id. ib. 10, p. 247; 7, p. 194, 39.—Sup.: scaevissimum somnium,App. M. 4, p. 154, 23.—Hence, subst.: scaeva, ae, f., a sign or token in the sky (observed by a Roman on his left; v. laevus), an omen: bonae scaevae causă...Ea dicta ab scaevā id est sinistră, quod quae sinistra sunt, bona auspicia existimantur...a Graeco est, quod hi sinistram vocant σκαιάν, Varr. L. L. 7, § 97 Müll.; cf. Fest. p. 325 ib.: bona scaeva est mihi,Plaut. Ps. 4, 7, 39; so, bona,id. Stich. 5, 2, 24: canina scaeva,taken from the barking of a dog,id. Cas. 5, 4, 4.