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Webster 1913 Edition

Dismal

Dis′mal

,
Adj.
[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.
Syn. – Dreary; lonesome; gloomy; dark; ominous; ill-boding; fatal; doleful; lugubrious; funereal; dolorous; calamitous; sorrowful; sad; joyless; melancholy; unfortunate; unhappy.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dismal

DISMAL

,
Adj.
s as z. [I am not satisfied with the etymologies of this word which I have seen. ]
1.
Dark; gloomy; as a dismal shade.
2.
Sorrowful; dire; horrid; melancholy; calamitous; unfortunate; as a dismal accident; dismal effects.
3.
Frightful; horrible; as a dismal scream.

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