SULKY (sulkier, sulkiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: sulkier    , sulkiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sulky mean? 

• SULKY (noun)
  The noun SULKY has 1 sense:

1. a light two-wheeled vehicle for one person; drawn by one horse

  Familiarity information: SULKY used as a noun is very rare.

• SULKY (adjective)
  The adjective SULKY has 3 senses:

1. sullen or moody

2. moving slowly

3. depressingly dark

  Familiarity information: SULKY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SULKY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A light two-wheeled vehicle for one person; drawn by one horse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("sulky" is a kind of...):

horse-drawn vehicle (a wheeled vehicle drawn by one or more horses)

• SULKY (adjective)

Comparative: sulkier   
Superlative: sulkiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sullen or moody

Synonyms:

huffish; sulky

Similar:

ill-natured (having an irritable and unpleasant disposition)

Derivation:

sulk (a mood or display of sullen aloofness or withdrawal)

sulkiness (a sullen moody resentful disposition)

sulkiness (a feeling of sulky resentment)

sulkiness (a mood or display of sullen aloofness or withdrawal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Moving slowly

Synonyms:

sluggish; sulky

Context example:

a sluggish stream

Similar:

slow (not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Depressingly dark

Synonyms:

gloomful; glooming; gloomy; sulky

Context example:

'gloomful' is archaic

Similar:

dark (devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black)

 Context examples 

It is very hard, because we have not a kind Mama, that we are to have, instead, a sulky, gloomy old thing like Miss Murdstone, always following us about—isn't it, Jip?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He was sulky, and so I came away.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Don't you think I had better take advantage of the confession, and begin and coax and entreat—even cry and be sulky if necessary—for the sake of a mere essay of my power?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was a sort of sulky defiance in her eyes, which only goes with guilty knowledge.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then he was very angry and sulky, and would not speak to her at all; but they watched the geese until it grew dark in the evening, and then drove them homewards.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The sulky dogs would rather have three twists of a rack, or the thumbikins for an hour, than pay out a denier for their own feudal father and liege lord.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“As sulky as a bear!” said Miss Murdstone.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then they ran at once to the place, and poked the ends of their sticks into the mouse-hole, but all in vain; Tom only crawled farther and farther in; and at last it became quite dark, so that they were forced to go their way without their prize, as sulky as could be.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“I have kept your name and reputation for you, and your peace and quiet, and your house and home too,” said Uriah, with a sulky, hurried, defeated air of compromise.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)