American Dictionary of the English Language

Dictionary Search

Sullen


SUL'LEN, adjective [perhaps set, fixed, and allied to silent, sill, etc.]

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

And sullen I forsook th' imperfect feast.

2. Mischievous; malignant.

Such sullen planets at my birth did shine.

3. Obstinate; intractable.

Things are as sullen as we are.

4. Gloomy; dark; dismal.

Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth?

Night with her sullen wings.

No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows.

5. Heavy; dull; sorrowful.

Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,

And sullen presage of your own decay.