\Sul"len\, a. [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen;
through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L.
solus alone. See {Sole}, a.]
1. Lonely; solitary; desolate. [Obs.] --Wyclif (Job iii. 14).
2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding. --Milton.
         Solemn hymns so sullen dirges change. --Shak.
3. Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
         Such sullen planets at my birth did shine. --Dryden.
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.
Usage: {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.

\Sul"len\, n.
1. One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit. [Obs.]
   --Piers Plowman.
2. pl. Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness; as, to
   have the sullens. [Obs.] --Shak.

\Sul"len\, v. t.
To make sullen or sluggish. [Obs.]
      Sullens the whole body with . . . laziness. --Feltham.