GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Sullen , a. [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
   Lonely; solitary; desolate. [Obs.]
   Wyclif (Job iii. 14).
   
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   Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
   Milton.
   
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   Solemn hymns so sullen dirges change.
   Shak.
   
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   Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
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   Such sullen planets at my birth did shine.
   Dryden.
   
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   Gloomily angry and silent; cross; sour; affected with ill humor; morose.
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   And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.
   Prior.
   
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   Obstinate; intractable.
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   Things are as sullen as we are.
   Tillotson.
   
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   Heavy; dull; sluggish. “The larger stream was placid, and even sullen, in its course.”  
   Sir W. Scott.
   
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   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.
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   No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows;
   The dreaded east is all the wind that blows.
   Pope.
   
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   -- Sul"len*ly, adv. -- Sul"len*ness, n.
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2.       
   Sullen, n.
   One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit. [Obs.]
   Piers Plowman.
   
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   pl. Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness; as, to have the sullens. [Obs.]
   Shak.
   
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3.       
   Sullen, v. t. To make sullen or sluggish. [Obs.]
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   Sullens the whole body with . . . laziness.
   Feltham.
   
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