sadden, v.
(ˈsæd(ə)n)
[f. sad a. + -en.]
1. trans. To make solid, firm, or stiff; to compress, render cohesive; to press or beat down into a compact mass. Now dial.
| 1600 G. Plat in Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1669) 44 Also the roots of the Corn will spread better..if the ground be saddned a little in the bottom of every hole. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 77 Hee woulde have the water sattle away, and the grownd somewhat saddened. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. xvii. 102 For your Lime after it is once Slacked, and Melted, it is of a very cold Nature; for it will sadden your Land exceedingly. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 73/1 Treading it [sc. Hay] is to sadden it down either in the Mow or Rick, &c. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 94 If Marle sadden Land, or make it stiff or binding, you must dung it well. 1813 T. Batchelor Gen. View Agric. Bedf. 342 (E.D.D.), The soil below will, instead of being brought up, be trampled and saddened. |
† b. intr. To become stiff or solid.
Obs.| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 77 If there bee any winds aloft without raine, the grownd will sadden and the fields waxe dry. 1764 Museum Rust. I. xcii. 407 After which the ground began to sadden. 1764 E. Moxon Eng. Housew. (ed. 9) 117 Then take them off the fire and let them stand a little to sadden. |
2. trans. To render sad or sorrowful; to depress in spirits. Also, to give a sad appearance to.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. [i.] lviii. 166 He smarts, and pines, and sadneth his incumbred soule. 1717 Pope Eloisa to Abelard 167 Her gloomy presence saddens all the scene. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, With a heart saddened by disappointment. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 28 Its beauty was saddened by care and anxiety. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xx, Her round face much paled and saddened since he had parted from it. 1884 Graphic 4 Oct. 358/2 It saddens me to enter a Government bureau at the present day. |
b. intr. To become sad or gloomy.
| 1718 Pope Iliad xiv. 558 Troy sadden'd at the View. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 979 And Mecca saddens at the long delay. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. xviii, Her countenance saddened in a moment. 1818 Keats What the Thrush said 12 He who saddens At thought of idleness cannot be idle. 1859 FitzGerald tr. Omar xxxix, Better be merry with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. |
| fig. 1795 Coleridge Aeolian Harp 7 And watch the clouds, that late were rich with light, Slow saddening round. |
3. Dyeing and
Calico-printing. To tone down (colours) by the application of certain chemicals.
| 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing II. ii. iii. v. 196 These substances however saddened the crimson colour and gave it less lustre than alum. 1866 Chamb. Encycl. VIII. 414/2 Saddening, a peculiar method of applying certain mordants in dyeing and printing cloths, so as to give duller shades to the colours employed. 1873 E. Spon Workshop Receipts Ser. i. 30/2 Winch 30 minutes, and lift for saddening. 1874 Sir W. Crookes Handbk. Dyeing & Calico-print. 53 For saddening olives, drabs, clarets, &c.,..it [sc. copperas] has been generally discarded in favour of a nitrate of iron. |