sadden

verb

Etymology: From Middle English saddenen, equivalent to sad + -en.

1. To make sad or unhappy.

   “It saddens me to think that I might have hurt someone.”

   “The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.”

2. To become sad or unhappy.

   “He saddens, all the magic light ⁠Dies off at once from bower and hall, ⁠And all the place is dark, and all The chambers emptied of delight: […]”

   “Hyacinth perfume tickled her senses, making her feel giddy, but she saddened when she saw how uncared for the garden was.”

3. To darken a color during dyeing.

   “Curve (E) is seen at a glance to represent green saddened down to its fifth shade, and reduced with white to its fourth tint.”

4. To render heavy, hard, or cohesive; to compress or thicken.

   “Marle's binding and sadning of land being the great Prejudice it doth to Clay-lands.”

   “... the soil below will, instead of being brought up, be trampled and saddened.”