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. "The larger stream was placid, and even sullen, in its course." Sir W. Scott.
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. No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows; The dreaded east is all the wind that blows. Pope. — Sul"len*ly, adv. — Sul"len*ness, n.
SULLEN
Sul"len, n.
1. One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
2. pl.
Defn: Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness; as, to have the sullens. [Obs.] Shak.
SULLEN
Sul"len, v. t.
Defn: To make sullen or sluggish. [Obs.]
Sullens the whole body with . . . laziness. Feltham.