In 1884, Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy, demonstrated the first working example of an espresso machine.
SULLEN
heavy, lowering, sullen, threatening
(adjective) darkened by clouds; “a heavy sky”
dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sour, sullen
(adjective) showing a brooding ill humor; “a dark scowl”; “the proverbially dour New England Puritan”; “a glum, hopeless shrug”; “he sat in moody silence”; “a morose and unsociable manner”; “a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius”- Bruce Bliven; “a sour temper”; “a sullen crowd”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
sullen (comparative sullener, superlative sullenest)
Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
Sluggish; slow.
(obsolete) Lonely; solitary; desolate.
(obsolete) Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
(obsolete) Obstinate; intractable.
Synonyms
• sulky, morose
Antonyms
• cheerful
• content
• lighthearted
• pleased
Noun
sullen (plural sullens)
(obsolete) One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
(chiefly, in plural) Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
Anagrams
• unsell
Source: Wiktionary
Sul"len, a. Etym: [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.
– 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.
Definition: Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness; as, to have the sullens. [Obs.] Shak.
Sul"len, v. t.
Definition: To make sullen or sluggish. [Obs.] Sullens the whole body with . . . laziness. Feltham.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
17 April 2025
SPONGE
(noun) a porous mass of interlacing fibers that forms the internal skeleton of various marine animals and usable to absorb water or any porous rubber or cellulose product similarly used
Coffee Trivia
