| 释义 |
▪ I. sullen, a., adv., and n.|ˈsʌlən|
Also 6 solen, sulleyne, 6–7 sollen, 7 sull(a)in, sulen.
[Later form of solein.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of persons, their attributes, aspect, actions: Characterized by, or indicative of, gloomy ill-humour or moody silence.
In early use there is often implication of obstinacy or stubbornness.
1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 180 Be lowly not sollen, if ought go amisse. 1592Arden 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. 1668Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. iii. (1912) 279 Their Saint Penn..is divelishly cryed vp amongest that pervers sullen Faction. 1680C. Nesse Church Hist. 55 Because they might not have what they would, grew sullain, and would have nothing. 1713Steele Guard. No. 18 ⁋2 These contemplations have made me serious but not sullen. 1718Free-thinker No. 149. 323 In the Middle sits Cato, with a sullen Brow. 1795Burke 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. 1814Wordsw. Excurs. vi. 459 Here..they met,..flaming Jacobite And sullen Hanoverian! 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 28 The answer of James was a cold and sullen reprimand. 1879Froude 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.
1577B. 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. 1648Gage West Ind. 89, I got up again and spurred my sullen jade. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 888 Things are Sullen, and will be as they are, what ever we Think them, or Wish them to be. 1691Ray Creation i. (1692) 38 The stupid Matter..would be as sullen as the Mountain was that Mahomet commanded to come down to him. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 339 The other [bull] proved untractable, sullen, and outrageous. 1859Tennyson Geraint & Enid 862 As sullen as a beast new-caged.
†c. Holding aloof. Obs.
1628Earle 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.
1676Dryden Aurengz. i. i. 360 Such sullen Planets at my Birth did shine, They threaten every Fortune mixt with mine. 1679Dryden & Lee Œdipus iii, Ye sullen Pow'rs below. 1703Rowe Fair Penit. ii. i, Some sullen Influence, a Foe to both.
†2. Solemn, serious. Obs.
1583B. Melbancke Philotimus M iij b, So was he free from sulleyne sterne seuerity. a1586Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 30 Morrall Philosophers, whom me thinketh, I see comming towards me with a sullen grauity. 1640Bp. Reynolds Passions iv, Some plausible Fancy doth more prevail with tender Wills than a severe and sullen argument. 1719Young Busiris i. i, In sullen Majesty they stalk along, With Eyes of Indignation, and Despair.
3. a. Of immaterial things, actions, conditions: Gloomy, dismal, melancholy; sometimes with the notion of ‘passing heavily, moving sluggishly’.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 265 The sullen passage of thy weary steppes. 1604― Oth. iii. iv. 51 (Q1), A salt and sullen rhume. 1605Daniel Philotas Ep. 59 To sound The deepe reports of sullen Tragedies. 1648Milton Sonn. xvii, Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire Help wast a sullen day. 1712–14Pope Rape Lock iv. 19 No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows. 1775Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 1 Aug., The place [sc. Oxford] is now a sullen solitude. 1816Byron Prisoner of Chillon xiv, With spiders I had friendship made, And watch'd them in their sullen trade. 1858Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 21 It was an afternoon of sullen Autumn rain. a1864Hawthorne 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.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 88 Our solemne Hymnes, to sullen Dyrges change. 1632Milton Penseroso 76, I hear the far-off Curfeu sound,..Swinging slow with sullen roar. 1742Collins Ode ix. 12 Where the beetle winds His small but sullen horn. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xliv, The heavy bell..broke short their argument. One by one the sullen sounds fell successively on the ear. 1849Kingsley North Devon in Misc. (1859) II. 264 The sullen thunder of the unseen surge.
4. a. Of sombre hue; of a dull colour; hence, of gloomy or dismal aspect. (Also qualifying an adj. of colour = dull-.) Cf. sad a. 8.
a1586[implied in sullenly 2]. 1592Arden of Feversham iii. i. 45 Now will he shake his care oppressed head, Then fix his sad eis on the sollen earth. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 236 Like bright Mettall on a sullen ground. 1647Harvey Sch. of Heart xxi. i, Take sullen lead for silver, sounding brass Instead of solid gold. 1665J. Rea Flora 130 A dark sullen violet purple colour. 1710Steele Tatler No. 266 ⁋3 Two apples that were roasting by a sullen sea coal fire. 1713Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 224 A sort of sullen greenish Wood-like rust. 1784Cowper Task ii. 212, I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies..for warmer France With all her vines. 1811Scott Don Roderick ii. i, All sleeps in sullen shade, or silver glow. 1818Keats Sonn. Ben Nevis 6, I look o'erhead, And there is sullen mist. 1855Tennyson Maud i. x. i, The sullen-purple moor. 1894Hall Caine Manxman v. iii. 286 The sky to the north-west was dark and sullen.
†b. sullen lady, ? Fritillaria nigra. Obs.
1688Holme 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.
1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxviii. 91 Small Cock, a sullen Brook, comes to her succour then. 1628Milton Vac. Exerc. 95 Sullen Mole that runneth underneath. 1814Scott Wav. xxii, The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen in its course. 1818Shelley Rosal. & Helen 398 Each one lay Sucking the sullen milk away About my frozen heart.
6. Comb.: parasynthetic adjs., as sullen-browed, sullen-eyed, sullen-faced, sullen-hearted; complementary, as sullen-blooming, sullen-looking, sullen-seeming, sullen-smiling; with other adjs., as sullen-sour, sullen-wise.
1879O. Wilde in Time July 402 No *sullen-blooming poppies stain thy hair.
1831Scott Cast. Dang. ii, This *sullen-browed Thomas Dickson.
1961R. S. Thomas Tares 47 And given to watching, *sullen-eyed, Love still-born, as it was then.
1914Joyce Dubliners 117 A very *sullen-faced man.
1909R. Bridges Par. Virg. æn. VI, 434 The *sullen-hearted, who..Their own life did-away.
1855Tennyson Maud i. xviii. vi, *Sullen-seeming Death.
1849J. A. Carlyle tr. Dante's Inf. p. xliv, The *Sullen-sour or Gloomy-sluggish.
1919J. Masefield Reynard the Fox i. 29 Surly, Tall, shifty, *sullen-smiling.
1710Steele Tatler No. 149 ⁋5 A *sullen-wise Man is as bad as a good-natured Fool.
B. adv. = sullenly. rare.
1718Prior Solomon ii. 201 Sullen I forsook th' Imperfect Feast. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxiv, Sullen and slowly they unclasp.
C. n.
a. (in pl., usually the sullens; rarely sing.) A state of gloomy ill-humour; sullenness, sulks. Phr. in the sullens, sick of the sullens.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 285 She was solitaryly walking, with hir frowning cloth, as sick lately of the solens. 1631R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature xvi. 280 So long he is sicke in the suds, and diseas'd in the sullens. 1633Marmion 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. 1662Hibbert Body Divinity i. 142 Its a dangerous thing to sit sick of the sullens, or be discontented. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 84 If his Majesty were moody..he would fetch him out of that Sullen with a pleasant Jest. 1671Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 215 When William Lenthall was troubled with the sullins. 1679Dryden 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. 1747Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. xviii. 134 No sullens, my Mamma; no perverseness. 1819Scott Leg. Montrose xxiii, Annot Lyle could always charm Allan out of the sullens. 1864Carlyle 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-humour.
1614T. Adams Sinners Passing Bell Wks. (1629) 247 If the state..lie sullen-sicke of Naboths vineyard. 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. vii. §7. 158 On the denyall Ahab falls sullen-sick.
▪ II. sullen, v. rare.|ˈsʌlən|
[f. sullen a.]
1. trans. To make sullen or sluggish.
1628Feltham Resolves ii. xlviii, The Idle man..like a member out of joynt, sullens the whole Body, with an ill disturbing lazinesse. 1894Amyand Only a Drummer Boy iv. 47 [They] prevented Douglas's happy nature getting completely crushed and sullened.
†2. intr. To be sullen; to sulk. Obs.
a1652Brome Covent Gard. i. i, Keeping her chamber whole weeks together, sullenning upon her Samplery breechwork.
▪ III. sullen
obs. form of sell v., shall v. |