Meaning of forlorn hope | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party.
   archaic
2. In the plural form forlorn hopes: the soldiers collectively making up such a troop; (by extension) a group of reckless adventurers.
   archaic, obsolete
3. Any dangerous or hopeless venture.
   broadly

Equivalents

Examples

“Ped[ro]. Stand⟳ to your guard ſir, all the devils extant / Are broke upon us, like⟳ a cloud of thunder; / There are more women, marching hitherward, / In reſcue of my Miſtris, then ere turn’d taile / At Sturbridge Faire; and I believe⟳, as fiery. / Jaq[ues]. The forlorn-hope’s led by a tanners wife, / I know⟳ her by her hide⟳; a deſperate woman: [...]”

“For Books and fine Pictures are the Forlorn-hope, as it were, of the Catholick Cloyſters and Convents; and as there are few of the Monks that underſtand either, upon any great Emergency they ſooner chuſe to convert theſe Moveables into Money, than to melt⟳ down their ſuperfluous Hoards of Plate; Treaſures which are oftentimes by far the leſs valuable.”

“Our Trenches were immediately open'd towards the Dauphin Baſtion, againſt which were planted many Cannon, in order⟳ to make⟳ a Breach; my ſelf as Probationer being twice put⟳ upon the forlorn Hope⟳ to facilitate that difficult Piece of Service.”

“[…] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope⟳, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.”

“[Benedict] Arnold, therefore, as usual with him, led the forlorn hope⟳, marching about one hundred yards before the main body.”

“Lieutenant Templeton of the 76th offered to lead⟳ the forlorn hope⟳. [...] So steep, however, was the ascent, and so continuous and well directed the fire upon it by the enemy from the bastion nearest to it, that but few men succeeded in reaching the summit. The first of these was young Templeton, the leader of the forlorn hope⟳, but he was at once shot dead.”

“He's the pride of our Vicksburg army. Not afraid of hell. A chivalrous man, a forlorn-hope man.”

“He felt the stress⟳ and strain⟳ of life, its fevers and sweats and wild insurgences—surely this was the stuff to write⟳ about! He wanted to glorify the leaders of forlorn hopes, the mad lovers, the giants that fought under stress⟳ and strain⟳, amid terror and tragedy, making life crackle with the strength of their endeavor.”

“After exploding a mine, a forlorn hope⟳ of fifty English troops rushed out from one of the tunnels and made good their footing upon the ramparts.”

“There will be would-be saviours of a disintegrating society who will refuse⟳ to despair of the Present⟳ and will lead⟳ forlorn hopes in an endeavour to turn⟳ the tide and to convert the rout into a fresh advance, without being willing to 'retreat according to plan⟳' for the sake of even temporarily breaking off contact⟳ with an enemy who has at any rate momentarily gained the upper hand.”

“A detachment of 400 Continental soldiers waited anxiously outside Yorktown on the dark and bone-chilling evening of October 14, 1781. Pangs of uncertainty spread⟳ through the ranks, for these men were the advance party, the "forlorn hope⟳," on the attack of the British fortifications at Yorktown.”

“[T]o make⟳ this realme a praye to al venturers, al ſpoylers, all ſnaphanſes, all forlornehopes, all cormerauntes, all reuenours of the worlde, that wyll inuade this realme, is to ſaye, thou poſſeſſyoner of any landes of this realme, of what degree ſo euer thou be, fro the higheſt to the loweſt, ſhalte be ſlayne and deſtroyed, and thy landes taken frome the by thoſe that wyl haue al for them ſelfes.”

“From the tete-a-tete with Mr. Thomas Tough, ſhe goes to her deſk again, and begins to write⟳ "With what appetite ſhe may," in the forlorn hope⟳ of procuring from her bookſeller part of the money ſhe has been compelled to promiſe to the ſaid Thomas's peremptory demands, on behalf of Mr. Humphrey Hotgooſe.”

“These cases form⟳ the forlorn hope⟳ in surgery; all saved are snatched from nearly certain death. [From the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions.]”

“[A]s Mark⟳, with all his vigilance, was unable to keep⟳ them [visitors] from the door; he resolved to go to bed—not that he felt at all sure of bed being any protection, but that he might not leave⟳ a forlorn hope⟳ untried.”

“[I]t would be a cruel rebuff to a being who was appealing to him as a forlorn hope⟳ under the shadow of a coming doom.”

“Astrological medicine for the sick, indeed, was often the forlorn hope⟳ of the art, and the wise man expected it to function primarily as a system of preventative and explanatory physic.”

“[H]e was not so much stalking us as clinging importunately, frantically, a mortal cripple, to us, as his only distant forlorn hope⟳ of help⟳, and by his very silence sending out an imploring Mayday stating that he could neither answer⟳ nor surface, was marooned in the deep.”

“Finally, on June 7, after steaming about in the vicinity of Cuba with some forlorn hope⟳ of gaining entry to a U.S. port, the ship began a return⟳ voyage.”

CEFR level