Crossword clues for saturnine
saturnine
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Saturnine \Sat"ur*nine\, a. [L. Saturnus the god Saturn, also, the planet Saturn: cf. F. saturnin of or pertaining to lead (Saturn, in old chemistry, meaning lead), saturnien saturnine, saturnian. See Saturn.]
Born under, or influenced by, the planet Saturn.
Heavy; grave; gloomy; dull; -- the opposite of mercurial; as, a saturnine person or temper.
--Addison.-
(Old Chem.) Of or pertaining to lead; characterized by, or resembling, lead, which was formerly called Saturn.
Saturnine colic (Med.), lead colic.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"gloomy, morose, sluggish, grave," mid-15c., literally "born under the influence of the planet Saturn," from Middle English Saturne (see Saturn) + -ine (1). Medieval physiology believed these characteristics to be caused by the astrological influence of the planet Saturn, which was the most remote from the Sun (in the limited knowledge of the times) and thus coldest and slowest in its revolution.
Wiktionary
a. 1 of or born under Saturn's influence 2 containing lead, or suffering from lead poisoning (saturnia) 3 having a tendency to be gloomy, bitter, and sarcastic; sullenly sardonic 4 gloomy, depressed, dull 5 cold and slow to change and react (refers to mood)
WordNet
adj. bitter or scornful; "the face was saturnine and swarthy, and the sensual lips...twisted with disdain"- Oscar Wilde
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" [syn: dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, sour, sullen]
Wikipedia
Saturnine can refer to:
- Saturnine antshrike, species of bird
- Saint Saturnine (Saturnina), Christian martyr
- The Saturnine, music group
- Saturnine Martial & Lunatic, Tears for Fears album
- Saturnine (comics)
Usage examples of "saturnine".
His saturnine countenance bespoke ill-concealed rage, his dark eyes smoldered, his right hand continually clenched and unclenched and the knuckles of his left hand gleamed white on his swordhilt.
Victor and Colney had been champion duellists for the rosy and the saturnine since the former cheerfully slaved for a small stipend in the City of his affection, and the latter entered on an inheritance counted in niggard hundreds, that withdrew a briefless barrister disposed for scholarship from the forlornest of seats in the Courts.
He might have schooled his features into a saturnine smirk, or at the very least made sure that he was impeccably dressed and wholeheartedly immersed in his role as the unrecoverable rake.
The handsome saturnine face of the young Burgo Smyth haunted her dreams.
He twisted his heavy mouth into a faint smile--he was one of those saturnine people who smile with the corners of the mouth down,--and bowed his acknowledgment of my complaisance.
Tall, slim, and saturnine, he towered over Gandhi without dominating him.
Viking outfit drank beer with a saturnine, well-used wayfarer in floppy seaboots and a ruffled black shirt.
Jeremiah tried not over-hard to keep the door against them and was barged aside, while Wimbarton, having first moved to the bed, dropped back towards the wall a fair good distance, and watched as coolly as could be, his dark, thin face saturnine.
Mursil, with his purple boozy face, the lean and saturnine Zadal, Huya the celebrated bowman, and the diminutive yellow Xhai whose fame as a tracker had grown apace in the last few years.
Most of her audience appeared to accept this argument as conclusive, but some mischievous spirit put it into the breast of the saturnine Carolus to contradict her, notwithstanding the lesson he had just received.
Presently, just as John in desperation was making up his mind to begin shooting right and left, and take his chance of cutting his way out, the saturnine Carolus, whose temper had never recovered the bowl of coffee, and who was besides very drunk, rushed forward with an oath and dealt a tremendous blow at him with the butt-end of his rifle.
Gibreel's exhalations, those ochre clouds of sulphur and brimstone, had always given him -- when taken together with his pronounced widow's peak and crowblack hair -- an air more saturnine than haloed, in spite of his archangelic name.
He looked him UP and down, starting at hismuddy boots and ending at his arrogant, saturnine head, and smiledcoldly.
It was a coarse male smile of knowledge and appetite, far from disagreeable, but startling in the saturnine engineer.
The fact of Mallard's being here at this hour seemed all but a disproval of what Miriam had hinted, and when he looked up again at the rugged, saturnine, energetic countenance, and met the calmly austere eyes, he felt how improbable it was that this man should be anything to Cecily save a conscientious friend.