Also 6 solen, sulleyne, 6–7 sollen, 7 sull(a)in, sulen. [Later form of SOLEIN.] A. adj.
1. Of persons, their attributes, aspect, actions: Characterized by, or indicative of, gloomy ill-humor 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 Saint 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. 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. Of immaterial things, actions, conditions: Gloomy, dismal, melancholy; sometimes with the notion of ‘passing heavily, moving sluggishly.’
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 265. The sullen passage of thy weary steppes. Ibid. (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.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, IV. 19. No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows.
1775. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 1 Aug. The place [sc. Oxford] is now a sullen solitude.
1816. Byron, Pris. 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. Shaks., 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. Of somber hue; of a dull color; hence, of gloomy or dismal aspect. (Also qualifying an adj. of color = 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. Shaks., 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. R. 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, -hearted; complementary, as sullen-seeming; with other adjs., as sullen-sour, -wise.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., ii. This *sullen-browed Thomas Dickson.
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, trans. Dante’s Inf., p. xliv. The *Sullen-sour or Gloomy-sluggish.
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. sb. (in pl., usually the sullens; rarely sing.) A state of gloomy ill-humor; 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-humor.
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.
