Sul"len (?), a. [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]

1.

Lonely; solitary; desolate.

[Obs.]

Wyclif (Job iii. 14).

2.

Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.

Milton.

Solemn hymns so sullen dirges change. Shak.

3.

Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.

Such sullen planets at my birth did shine. Dryden.

4.

Gloomily angry and silent; cross; sour; affected with ill humor; morose.

And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast. Prior.

5.

Obstinate; intractable.

Things are as sullen as we are. Tillotson.

6.

Heavy; dull; sluggish.

"The larger stream was placid, and even sullen, in its course."

Sir W. Scott.

Syn. -- Sulky; sour; cross; ill-natured; morose; peevish; fretful; ill-humored; petulant; gloomy; malign; intractable. -- Sullen, Sulky. Both sullen and sulky show themselves in the demeanor. Sullenness seems to be an habitual sulkiness, and sulkiness a temporary sullenness. The former may be an innate disposition; the latter, a disposition occasioned by recent injury. Thus we are in a sullen mood, and in a sulky fit.

No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows; The dreaded east is all the wind that blows. Pope.

-- Sul"len*ly, adv. -- Sul"len*ness, n.

 

© Webster 1913.


Sul"len, n.

1.

One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.

[Obs.]

Piers Plowman.

2. pl.

Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness; as, to have the sullens.

[Obs.]

Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.


Sul"len, v. t.

To make sullen or sluggish.

[Obs.]

Sullens the whole body with . . . laziness. Feltham.

 

© Webster 1913.

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