sullen

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). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Solemn hymns so sullen dirges change. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such sullen planets at my birth did shine. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Gloomily angry and silent; cross; sour; affected with ill humor; morose. [ 1913 Webster ]

And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Obstinate; intractable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Things are as sullen as we are. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Heavy; dull; sluggish. “The larger stream was placid, and even sullen, in its course.” Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows;
The dreaded east is all the wind that blows. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Sul"len*ly, adv. -- Sul"len*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]