1. MOROSE, A. 1 AND N.
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    A. adj.    I. General uses.

    1. a. Of persons, or their attributes, behaviour, etc.: sullen,
gloomy, sour-tempered, unsocial.

 

  1565 T. COOPER Thesaurus, Morosus, waywarde: frowarde: overthwarte:
morose: diuers in condition: harde to please. 1694 F. BRAGGE Pract.
Disc. Parables xiv. 458 They were..of very morose countenances, as
greatly mortified, and strangers to the world. 1726 SWIFT Gulliver I. I.
iii. 58 That Minister was Galbet,..a Person..of a morose and sour
Complection. 1775 W. MASON Mem. in T. Gray Poems 119 He was also morose,
unsocial, and obstinate. 1815 J. SMITH Panorama Sci. & Art I. 242 There
are very few so obstinately morose, as to be uninfluenced by the
opinions of others. 1853 C. BRONTĖ Villette I. xi. 201 She looked stony
and stern, almost mortified and morose. 1895 S. CRANE Red Badge of
Courage xxiii. 224 The third captive sat with a morose countenance. 1915
W. S. MAUGHAM Of Human Bondage lxxvii. 401 He was unused to alcohol, and
it affected him quickly, but his drunkenness was savage and morose. 1969
M. ANGELOU I know why Caged Bird Sings xiii. 86 There is nothing more
appalling than a constantly morose child. 1997 Guardian 4 July (Friday
Review section) 18/5 A penchant for morose self-analysis set to
strumalong guitar.

 

    b. In extended use.

 

  1694 R. FRANCK Northern Mem. 263 The Carp is a Fish complicated of a
moross Mixture, and a torpid Motion.

 

 

  1902 A. LANG Hist. Scotl. II. v. 104 Mary's arrival was darkened by
the morose climate. 1992 Dogs Today (BNC) Apr. 35 A luggage van
containing an enormous, hairy, and morose dog in one corner.

 

    c. Of an outlook, opinion, philosophy, etc.: pessimistic, gloomy.

 

  1791 W. MAXWELL in J. Boswell Life Johnson I. 340 [quoting W. Maxwell,
1770] His philosophy..was by no means morose and cynical. 1838 E. BULWER-LYTTON
Alice I. II. iv. 177 Morbid and morose philosophy, begot by a proud
spirit on a lonely heart. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. I. i. 3 No man who is
correctly informed as to the past will be disposed to take a morose or
desponding view of the present. 1861 J. A. ALEXANDER Gospel Jesus Christ
xiv. 194 Pleasures which a more morose religion would proscribe as
dangerous. 1881 BP. THOROLD Gospel of Christ Pref., Surely it is a
morose religionism that fears knowledge, or distrusts science. 1993 R. HUGHES
Culture of Complaint i. 36 The 80s brought the fulfillment of Kenneth
Galbraith's morose aphorism about America's recoil from the memory of
New Deal Policies.

 

    {dag}2. Of a thing: intractable. Obs. rare.

 

  1652 L. S. Natures Dowrie xxii. 53 This knot is somewhat morose, and
will not easily be untied.

 

    {dag}3. Scrupulous, painstaking. Obs.

 

  1695 J. EDWARDS Disc. conc. Old & New Test. III. xii. 482 He was a
very Morose Interpreter. 1696 R. BENTLEY Of Revel. & Messias 10 Unworthy
of the most cautious and morose searcher of truth.

 

    II. Special uses.

    4. General attrib., as morose-looking, -natured adjs.

 

   1845 G. P. R. JAMES Arrah Neil ii, The elder of the two was a
hard-featured somewhat *morose-looking personage. 1995 D. RAY Kangaroo
Paws 103 George Laughlin, who recalled Lawrence as `a morose-looking
fellow'.

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1884 J. PAYN Some Lit. Recoll. 62 A *morose-natured man.

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    B. n. With pl. concord. With the: morose people as a class. Now rare.

 

  1620 T. GRANGER Syntagma Logicum 275 This to delight, to moue, and to
allure with wiles, euen the refractory, and morose. 1711 SWIFT Argum.
against abolishing Christianity in Swift et al. Misc. 173
Convents..which are so many Retreats for the Speculative, the
Melancholy, the Proud, the Silent, the Politick and the Morose. 1762 O.
GOLDSMITH Life R. Nash 40 Let the morose and grave censure an attention
to forms and ceremonies. 1833 R. H. DANA Tom Thornton in Poems & Prose
Writings 154 Good fortune has something joyous in it, even to the
morose. 2002 www.amazon.com 5 Apr. (O.E.D. Archive), Listmania! Music
for the Morose.

2. MOROSE, A. 2
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    1. Theol. Of a thought or feeling: wrongly or sinfully prolonged or
dwelt upon. Now rare.

  morose delectation, the habit of dwelling with enjoyment upon evil
thoughts.

 

  1644 H. HAMMOND Pract. Catech. (1646) II. §6 77 All morose thoughts,
i.e. dwelling or insisting on that image, or phansying of such unclean
matter with delectation. 1661 W. NICHOLSON Plain Expos. Catech. (1663)
123 In this Commandment are forbidden..All that feeds this sin [sc.
adultery], or are incentives to it: as..3. Morose thoughts, that dwell
in the phancy with delight.

 

 

  1970 P. O'BRIAN Master & Commander viii. 254 Indeed, it is not far
from morose delectation.

 

    {dag}2. Roman Law. Chargeable with undue delay in the assertion of a
claim, etc. Cf. MORA n.1 1. Obs. rare.

 

  1875 E. POSTE tr. Instit. Gaius III. 449 If he is Morose (a debtor
chargeable with mora).