FORLORN HOPE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Forlorn hope

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/fərlˈɔrn hoʊp/ Listen

adjective

Forlorn adj.

Deserted; abandoned; lost. "Of fortune and of hope at once forlorn." "Some say that ravens foster forlorn children."

Destitute; helpless; in pitiful plight; wretched; miserable; almost hopeless; desperate. "For here forlorn and lost I tread." "The condition of the besieged in the mean time was forlorn in the extreme." "She cherished the forlorn hope that he was still living."

A forlorn hope (Mil.), a body of men (called in F. enfants perdus, in G. verlornen posten) selected, usually from volunteers, to attempt a breach, scale the wall of a fortress, or perform other extraordinarily perilous service; also, a desperate case or enterprise.

Synonyms: Destitute, lost; abandoned; forsaken; solitary; helpless; friendless; hopeless; abject; wretched; miserable; pitiable.

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Etymology of 'Forlorn hope'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Forlorn hope" Quotes from Famous Books

... to render my position more comfortable, ending in a forlorn hope that intense and continued sitting might, by some undefined process of evaporation, cure the evil. This suggested a speculation, half pleasing and half painful, as to what would be my mother's feelings could she ...

— Frank Fairlegh - Scenes From The Life Of A Private Pupil • Frank E. Smedley

... the mountain unoccupied? The mountain without the Austrians was in itself difficult enough to conquer! Lannes was despatched like a forlorn hope with a whole division. He crossed the peak of the Saint-Bernard without baggage or artillery, and took possession of Chatillon. The Austrians had left no troops in Piedmont, except the cavalry in barracks and a few posts of observation. There were no obstacles to contend with except those ...

— The Companions of Jehu • Alexandre Dumas

... announced, and the asperity of Miss Jemima's feelings softened a little by that, especially as she reflected that her father would be obliged to lead Mrs. Mellen into the dining-room. But that dreadful Elsie destroyed even that forlorn hope. ...

— A Noble Woman • Ann S. Stephens

... got to go down," he said to himself, "I'll see that it's a tremendous smash anyhow, and that we ain't alone in it." For he had in him the stuff that makes a man lead a forlorn hope with a certain joy in the very hopelessness ...

— The Cost • David Graham Phillips

... The most forlorn hope of the Bourbons was now in a considerable army posted between Fontainebleau and Paris. Meanwhile the two armies approached each other at Melun; that of the King was commanded by Marshal Macdonald. On the 20th his troops were ...

— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

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