Sullen

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.

3. Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.

Such sullen planets at my birth did shine.

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

And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.

5. Obstinate; intractable.

Things are as sullen as we are.

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.

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

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.

Sul"len, v. t. To make sullen or sluggish. [Obs.]

Sullens the whole body with . . . laziness.