SUL'LEN, adjective [perhaps set, fixed, and allied to silent, sill, etc.] 1. Gloomily angry and silent; cross; sour; affected with ill humor. And sullen I forsook th' imperfect feast. 2. Mischievous; malignant. Such sullen planets at my birth did shine. 3. Obstinate; intractable. Things are as sullen as we are. 4. Gloomy; dark; dismal. Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth? Night with her sullen wings. No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows. 5. Heavy; dull; sorrowful. Be thou the trumpet of our wrath, And sullen presage of your own decay.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI