▪ I. sullen, a., adv., and n.
(ˈsʌlən)
Also 6 solen, sulleyne, 6–7 sollen, 7 sull(a)in, sulen.
[Later form of solein.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of persons, their attributes, aspect, actions: Characterized by, or indicative of, gloomy ill-humour or moody silence.
In early use there is often implication of obstinacy or stubbornness.
| 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 180 Be lowly not sollen, if ought go amisse. 1592 Arden of Feversham i. i. 510 Who would haue thought the ciuill sir so sollen? 1641 ‘Smectymnuus’ Vind. Answ. To Rdr., Wee are called..sullen and crabbed peices. 1668 Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. iii. (1912) 279 Their Sain{supt} Penn..is divelishly cryed vp amongest that pervers sullen Faction. 1680 C. Nesse Church Hist. 55 Because they might not have what they would, grew sullain, and would have nothing. 1713 Steele Guard. No. 18 ¶2 These contemplations have made me serious but not sullen. 1718 Free-thinker No. 149. 323 In the Middle sits Cato, with a sullen Brow. 1795 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 315 If the better part lies by, in a sullen silence, they still cannot hinder the more factious part both from speaking and from writing. 1814 Wordsw. Excurs. vi. 459 Here..they met,..flaming Jacobite And sullen Hanoverian! 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 28 The answer of James was a cold and sullen reprimand. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxvi. 438 Some were still sullen, and refused to sue for a forgiveness. |
b. transf. Of animals and inanimate things: Obstinate, refractory; stubborn, unyielding.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 128 b, Which being well punished with hunger, and thyrst, wyll teache him [sc. a plough-ox] to leaue that sullen tricke. 1648 Gage West Ind. 89, I got up again and spurred my sullen jade. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 888 Things are Sullen, and will be as they are, what ever we Think them, or Wish them to be. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 38 The stupid Matter..would be as sullen as the Mountain was that Mahomet commanded to come down to him. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 339 The other [bull] proved untractable, sullen, and outrageous. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 862 As sullen as a beast new-caged. |
† c. Holding aloof.
Obs.| 1628 Earle Microcosm., Acquaintance (Arb.) 86 Friendship is a sullener thing, as a contracter and taker vp of our affections to some few. |
† d. fig. Baleful, malignant.
Obs.| 1676 Dryden Aurengz. i. i. 360 Such sullen Planets at my Birth did shine, They threaten every Fortune mixt with mine. 1679 Dryden & Lee Œdipus iii, Ye sullen Pow'rs below. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. ii. i, Some sullen Influence, a Foe to both. |
† 2. Solemn, serious.
Obs.| 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus M iij b, So was he free from sulleyne sterne seuerity. a 1586 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 30 Morrall Philosophers, whom me thinketh, I see comming towards me with a sullen grauity. 1640 Bp. Reynolds Passions iv, Some plausible Fancy doth more prevail with tender Wills than a severe and sullen argument. 1719 Young Busiris i. i, In sullen Majesty they stalk along, With Eyes of Indignation, and Despair. |
3. a. Of immaterial things, actions, conditions: Gloomy, dismal, melancholy; sometimes with the notion of ‘passing heavily, moving sluggishly’.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 265 The sullen passage of thy weary steppes. 1604 ― Oth. iii. iv. 51 (Q1), A salt and sullen rhume. 1605 Daniel Philotas Ep. 59 To sound The deepe reports of sullen Tragedies. 1648 Milton Sonn. xvii, Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire Help wast a sullen day. 1712–14 Pope Rape Lock iv. 19 No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows. 1775 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 1 Aug., The place [sc. Oxford] is now a sullen solitude. 1816 Byron Prisoner of Chillon xiv, With spiders I had friendship made, And watch'd them in their sullen trade. 1858 Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 21 It was an afternoon of sullen Autumn rain. a 1864 Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1879) II. 52 A bleak, sullen day. |
b. Of a sound or an object producing a sound: Of a deep, dull, or mournful tone. Chiefly
poet.| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 88 Our solemne Hymnes, to sullen Dyrges change. 1632 Milton Penseroso 76, I hear the far-off Curfeu sound,..Swinging slow with sullen roar. 1742 Collins Ode ix. 12 Where the beetle winds His small but sullen horn. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xliv, The heavy bell..broke short their argument. One by one the sullen sounds fell successively on the ear. 1849 Kingsley North Devon in Misc. (1859) II. 264 The sullen thunder of the unseen surge. |
4. a. Of sombre hue; of a dull colour; hence, of gloomy or dismal aspect. (Also qualifying an
adj. of colour
= dull-.)
Cf. sad a. 8.
| a 1586 [implied in sullenly 2]. 1592 Arden of Feversham iii. i. 45 Now will he shake his care oppressed head, Then fix his sad eis on the sollen earth. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 236 Like bright Mettall on a sullen ground. 1647 Harvey Sch. of Heart xxi. i, Take sullen lead for silver, sounding brass Instead of solid gold. 1665 J. Rea Flora 130 A dark sullen violet purple colour. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 266 ¶3 Two apples that were roasting by a sullen sea coal fire. 1713 Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 224 A sort of sullen greenish Wood-like rust. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 212, I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies..for warmer France With all her vines. 1811 Scott Don Roderick ii. i, All sleeps in sullen shade, or silver glow. 1818 Keats Sonn. Ben Nevis 6, I look o'erhead, And there is sullen mist. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. x. i, The sullen-purple moor. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman v. iii. 286 The sky to the north-west was dark and sullen. |
† b. sullen lady, ?
Fritillaria nigra.
Obs.| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. iv. 74/1 The sullen Lady, hangeth her head down..and is of an umberish dark hair colour, without any checker or spots. Some call it the black Fritillary. |
5. Of water, etc.: Flowing sluggishly.
poet.| 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxviii. 91 Small Cock, a sullen Brook, comes to her succour then. 1628 Milton Vac. Exerc. 95 Sullen Mole that runneth underneath. 1814 Scott Wav. xxii, The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen in its course. 1818 Shelley Rosal. & Helen 398 Each one lay Sucking the sullen milk away About my frozen heart. |
6. Comb.: parasynthetic
adjs., as
sullen-browed,
sullen-eyed,
sullen-faced,
sullen-hearted; complementary, as
sullen-blooming,
sullen-looking,
sullen-seeming,
sullen-smiling; with other
adjs., as
sullen-sour,
sullen-wise.
| 1879 O. Wilde in Time July 402 No *sullen-blooming poppies stain thy hair. |
| 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. ii, This *sullen-browed Thomas Dickson. |
| 1961 R. S. Thomas Tares 47 And given to watching, *sullen-eyed, Love still-born, as it was then. |
| 1914 Joyce Dubliners 117 A very *sullen-faced man. |
| 1909 R. Bridges Par. Virg. æn. VI, 434 The *sullen-hearted, who..Their own life did-away. |
| 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xviii. vi, *Sullen-seeming Death. |
| 1849 J. A. Carlyle tr. Dante's Inf. p. xliv, The *Sullen-sour or Gloomy-sluggish. |
| 1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox i. 29 Surly, Tall, shifty, *sullen-smiling. |
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 149 ¶5 A *sullen-wise Man is as bad as a good-natured Fool. |
B. adv. = sullenly.
rare.
| 1718 Prior Solomon ii. 201 Sullen I forsook th' Imperfect Feast. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxiv, Sullen and slowly they unclasp. |
C. n. a. (in
pl., usually
the sullens; rarely
sing.) A state of gloomy ill-humour; sullenness, sulks. Phr.
in the sullens,
sick of the sullens.
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 285 She was solitaryly walking, with hir frowning cloth, as sick lately of the solens. 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature xvi. 280 So long he is sicke in the suds, and diseas'd in the sullens. 1633 Marmion Fine Comp. i. iii. B 2, They can doe no more good upon me, then a young pittifull Lover upon a Mistresse, that has the sullens. 1662 Hibbert Body Divinity i. 142 Its a dangerous thing to sit sick of the sullens, or be discontented. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 84 If his Majesty were moody..he would fetch him out of that Sullen with a pleasant Jest. 1671 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 215 When William Lenthall was troubled with the sullins. 1679 Dryden Troil. & Cress. iv. ii, I'll e'en go home, and shut up my doors, and die o' the sullens, like an old bird in a cage. 1747 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. xviii. 134 No sullens, my Mamma; no perverseness. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose xxiii, Annot Lyle could always charm Allan out of the sullens. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvi. viii. IV. 362 Russian Czarina evidently in the sullens against Friedrich. 1868 ‘Holme Lee’ B. Godfrey xxxvi, Gerrard was in a fit of sullens. |
b. Comb.,
† sullen-sick a., ‘sick of the sullens’, ill from ill-humour.
| 1614 T. Adams Sinners Passing Bell Wks. (1629) 247 If the state..lie sullen-sicke of Naboths vineyard. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. vii. §7. 158 On the denyall Ahab falls sullen-sick. |
▪ II. sullen, v. rare.
(
ˈsʌlən)
[f. sullen a.] 1. trans. To make sullen or sluggish.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. xlviii, The Idle man..like a member out of joynt, sullens the whole Body, with an ill disturbing lazinesse. 1894 Amyand Only a Drummer Boy iv. 47 [They] prevented Douglas's happy nature getting completely crushed and sullened. |
† 2. intr. To be sullen; to sulk.
Obs.| a 1652 Brome Covent Gard. i. i, Keeping her chamber whole weeks together, sullenning upon her Samplery breechwork. |
▪ III. sullen obs. form of
sell v.,
shall v.