Dis"mal (?), a. [Formerly a noun; e.
g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of
uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF.
disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phrase dismal
day properly meaning, the day when tithes must be paid. See
Dime.] 1. Fatal; ill-omened;
unlucky. [Obs.]
An ugly fiend more foul than dismal
day.
Spenser.
2. Gloomy to the eye or ear; sorrowful and
depressing to the feelings; foreboding; cheerless; dull; dreary; as,
a dismal outlook; dismal stories; a dismal
place.
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frowned.
Goldsmith.
A dismal description of an English
November.
Southey.
Syn. -- Dreary; lonesome; gloomy; dark; ominous; ill-
boding; fatal; doleful; lugubrious; funereal; dolorous; calamitous;
sorrowful; sad; joyless; melancholy; unfortunate; unhappy.
