Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUL'LEN, a. [perhaps set, fixed, and allied to silent, still, &c.]

1. Gloomily, angry and silent; cross; sour; affected with ill humor. And sullen I forsook th' imperfect feast. – Prior.
2. Mischievous; malignant. Such sullen planets at my birth did shine. – Dryden.
3. Obstinate; intractable. Things are as sullen as we are. – Tillotson.
4. Gloomy; dark; dismal. Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth? – Shak. Night with her sullen wings. – Milton. No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows. – Pope.
5. Heavy; dull; sorrowful. Be thou the trumpet of our wrath, / And sullen presage of your own decay. – Shak.