Sullen — Defs

01 a. Lonely; solitary; desolate.

1.
Lonely; solitary; desolate.[Obs.]
2.
Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
“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.
“No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows; The dreaded east is all the wind that blows.” — Pope.

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.

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

1.
One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.[Obs.]
2.
Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness; as, to have the sullens.[Obs.]

03 v. t. To make sullen or sluggish.

1.
To make sullen or sluggish.[Obs.]
“Sullens the whole body with . . . laziness.” — Feltham.