See forlorn hope in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for forlorn hope meaning in English (15.2kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "From <span class=\"cited-source\">Archibald Forbes, G[eorge] A[lfred] Henty, Arthur Griffiths [et al.] (<span class=\"None\" lang=\"und\">1901) <cite>Battles of the Nineteenth Century</cite>, London: Cassell and Company, <small>→OCLC</small></span></span>.",
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{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "nl",
"3": "verloren hoop",
"lit": "lost troop"
},
"expansion": "Dutch verloren hoop (literally “lost troop”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "verloren",
"pos": "adjective",
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"expansion": "verloren (“lost”, adjective)",
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{
"args": {
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"2": "hoop",
"t": "(obsolete) unit of soldiers, contingent; heap, pile, stack"
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"expansion": "hoop (“(obsolete) unit of soldiers, contingent; heap, pile, stack”)",
"name": "m"
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{
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "hoop",
"3": "",
"4": "hope"
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"expansion": "hoop (“hope”)",
"name": "m"
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{
"args": {
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"2": "",
"3": "Verloren"
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"expansion": "Verloren",
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{
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "verliezen",
"t": "to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)"
},
"expansion": "verliezen (“to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)”)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*fraleusaną",
"t": "to cease to have, lose"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to cease to have, lose”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*per-",
"t": "before, in front; first"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ine-pro",
"2": "*lewH-",
"t": "to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose"
},
"expansion": "*lewH- (“to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose”)",
"name": "m"
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{
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "",
"3": "hoop"
},
"expansion": "hoop",
"name": "m"
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{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*haupaz",
"t": "a crowd, throng; a heap, pile"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *haupaz (“a crowd, throng; a heap, pile”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*kouHp-nó-"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *kouHp-nó-",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ine-pro",
"2": "*keHup-"
},
"expansion": "*keHup-",
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{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "forlorn"
},
"expansion": "forlorn",
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{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "hope"
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"expansion": "hope",
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],
"etymology_text": "Sense 1 (“troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack”) is a mistranslation of Dutch verloren hoop (literally “lost troop”): verloren (“lost”, adjective) + hoop (“(obsolete) unit of soldiers, contingent; heap, pile, stack”), mistaking the latter word for the homograph hoop (“hope”). Verloren is the past participle of verliezen (“to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to cease to have, lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”) + *lewH- (“to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose”)), while hoop is ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haupaz (“a crowd, throng; a heap, pile”), from Proto-Indo-European *kouHp-nó- or *keHup-.\nSense 2 (“dangerous or hopeless venture”) is either an extension of the meaning of sense 1, or from the literal meaning of the words forlorn and hope.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "forlorn hopes",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "forlorn hope (plural forlorn hopes)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"for‧lorn"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Military",
"orig": "en:Military",
"parents": [
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{
"ref": "1726, J[ohn Durant] Breval, “Franche Comte”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Europe: Relating Chiefly to the History, Antiquities and Geography, of Those Countries though which the Author has Travel’d; […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot […], →OCLC, page 200",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1728, George Carleton, The Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton. From the Dutch War, 1672. in which he Serv’d, to the Conclusion of the Peace at Utrecht, 1713. […], London: […] E[dward] Symon, […], →OCLC, page 23",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1880, Isaac N[ewton] Arnold, “Assault upon Quebec”, in The Life of Benedict Arnold; His Patriotism and His Treason, Chicago, Ill.: Jansen, McClurg & Company, →OCLC, page 82",
"text": "[Benedict] Arnold, therefore, as usual with him, led the forlorn hope, marching about one hundred yards before the main body.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1885, G[eorge] B[ruce] Malleson, “Bharatpúr”, in The Decisive Battles of India from 1746 to 1849 inclusive. […], 2nd edition, London: W[illiam] H. Allen & Co., […], →OCLC, page 323",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1922, George Edmundson, “From the End of the Twelve Years’ Truce to the Peace of Munster, 1621–1648. The Stadholderate of Frederick Henry of Orange.”, in History of Holland (Cambridge Historical Series), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 147",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1939, Arnold J[oseph] Toynbee, “The Disintegrations of Civilizations (cont.)”, in A Study of History, volume VI, London: Oxford University Press; Geoffrey Cumberlege, […], published 1955, →OCLC, section C(II)(a) (The Relation between Disintegrating Civilizations and Individuals), page 177",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, “The Purple Heart Legacy”, in editorial staff of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and Turner Publishing Company, compilers, The Legacy of the Purple Heart, 4th edition, Paducah, Ky.: Turner Publishing Company, page 15",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party."
],
"id": "en-forlorn_hope-en-noun-UpxYxAfN",
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"small",
"small"
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[
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"troop#Noun"
],
[
"soldiers",
"soldier#Noun"
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[
"picked",
"pick#Verb"
],
[
"make",
"make#Verb"
],
[
"advance",
"advance#Adjective"
],
[
"attack",
"attack#Noun"
],
[
"first",
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],
[
"storming",
"storm#Verb"
],
[
"party",
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]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, archaic)",
"A small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party."
],
"tags": [
"archaic"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "決死隊"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "决死队"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "etujoukko"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"masculine"
],
"word": "enfants perdus"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Verlorener Haufen"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "fanti perduti"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "venturieri"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"alt": "けつしたい",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "ketsushitai",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "決死隊"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "te koiti o Rangapū"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 12 1",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "whakakā"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Military",
"orig": "en:Military",
"parents": [
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "11 65 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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"Entry maintenance"
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{
"ref": "1539 April 9, Cuthbert Tunstall, A Sermon of Cuthbert Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, Preached on Palm Sunday, 1539, before King Henry VIII. […], London: […] [J. Compton, […]] for T[homas] Rodd, […], published 1823, →OCLC",
"text": "[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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"In the plural form forlorn hopes: the soldiers collectively making up such a troop; (by extension) a group of reckless adventurers."
],
"id": "en-forlorn_hope-en-noun-JO5F8Ilr",
"links": [
[
"military",
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[
"forlorn hopes",
"forlorn hopes"
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[
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[
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"make up"
],
[
"group",
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[
"reckless",
"reckless"
],
[
"adventurer",
"adventurer"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, archaic)",
"(obsolete) In the plural form forlorn hopes: the soldiers collectively making up such a troop; (by extension) a group of reckless adventurers."
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "10 71 19",
"word": "cannon fodder"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 71 19",
"word": "Hail Mary pass"
}
],
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{
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{
"ref": "1841 June 23, Rutherford Alcock, “On Injuries of the Joints”, in Jerome V[an] C[rowninsfield] Smith, editor, The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume XXIV, number 20, Boston, Mass.: D. Clapp, Jr., […], →OCLC, page 329",
"text": "These cases form the forlorn hope in surgery; all saved are snatched from nearly certain death. [From the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions.]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1979, Allan Chapman, “Astrological Medicine”, in Charles Webster, editor, Health, Medicine and Mortality in the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, page 275",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1988, William Brinkley, “The Companion”, in The Last Ship: […], New York, N.Y.: Plume, published 2013, book III (The Search), page 171",
"text": "[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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Fred Schruers, “Living Here in Levittown”, in Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, part I (Origins: The Ballad of Billy the Kid), page 15",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any dangerous or hopeless venture."
],
"id": "en-forlorn_hope-en-noun-voCXzrv9",
"links": [
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[
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(by extension) Any dangerous or hopeless venture."
],
"tags": [
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"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "2 7 90",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"word": "絕望的希望"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 7 90",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "juéwàngdexīwàng",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"word": "绝望的希望"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 7 90",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"word": "epätoivoinen yritys"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 7 90",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "impresa disperata"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/fəˌlɔːn ˈhəʊp/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/fɔː-/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/fɔɹˌlɔɹn ˈhoʊp/",
"tags": [
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},
{
"rhymes": "-əʊp"
},
{
"audio": "En-us-forlorn hope.oga",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/09/En-us-forlorn_hope.oga/En-us-forlorn_hope.oga.mp3",
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],
"wikipedia": [
"Peninsular War",
"Siege of San Sebastián",
"William Barnes Wollen"
],
"word": "forlorn hope"
}
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"English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
"English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *lewh₁-",
"English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"Rhymes:English/əʊp",
"Rhymes:English/əʊp/3 syllables"
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"3": "verloren hoop",
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{
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"name": "m"
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"4": "hope"
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"name": "m"
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"2": "",
"3": "Verloren"
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"t": "to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)"
},
"expansion": "verliezen (“to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)”)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
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"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*fraleusaną",
"t": "to cease to have, lose"
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"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
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"2": "ine-pro",
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"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ine-pro",
"2": "*lewH-",
"t": "to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose"
},
"expansion": "*lewH- (“to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose”)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "",
"3": "hoop"
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"expansion": "hoop",
"name": "m"
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{
"args": {
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"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*haupaz",
"t": "a crowd, throng; a heap, pile"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *haupaz (“a crowd, throng; a heap, pile”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*kouHp-nó-"
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"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *kouHp-nó-",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ine-pro",
"2": "*keHup-"
},
"expansion": "*keHup-",
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{
"args": {
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"2": "forlorn"
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{
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}
],
"etymology_text": "Sense 1 (“troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack”) is a mistranslation of Dutch verloren hoop (literally “lost troop”): verloren (“lost”, adjective) + hoop (“(obsolete) unit of soldiers, contingent; heap, pile, stack”), mistaking the latter word for the homograph hoop (“hope”). Verloren is the past participle of verliezen (“to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to cease to have, lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”) + *lewH- (“to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose”)), while hoop is ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haupaz (“a crowd, throng; a heap, pile”), from Proto-Indo-European *kouHp-nó- or *keHup-.\nSense 2 (“dangerous or hopeless venture”) is either an extension of the meaning of sense 1, or from the literal meaning of the words forlorn and hope.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "forlorn hopes",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "forlorn hope (plural forlorn hopes)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"for‧lorn"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "cannon fodder"
},
{
"word": "Hail Mary pass"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with archaic senses",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Military"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1726, J[ohn Durant] Breval, “Franche Comte”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Europe: Relating Chiefly to the History, Antiquities and Geography, of Those Countries though which the Author has Travel’d; […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot […], →OCLC, page 200",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1728, George Carleton, The Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton. From the Dutch War, 1672. in which he Serv’d, to the Conclusion of the Peace at Utrecht, 1713. […], London: […] E[dward] Symon, […], →OCLC, page 23",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1880, Isaac N[ewton] Arnold, “Assault upon Quebec”, in The Life of Benedict Arnold; His Patriotism and His Treason, Chicago, Ill.: Jansen, McClurg & Company, →OCLC, page 82",
"text": "[Benedict] Arnold, therefore, as usual with him, led the forlorn hope, marching about one hundred yards before the main body.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1885, G[eorge] B[ruce] Malleson, “Bharatpúr”, in The Decisive Battles of India from 1746 to 1849 inclusive. […], 2nd edition, London: W[illiam] H. Allen & Co., […], →OCLC, page 323",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1922, George Edmundson, “From the End of the Twelve Years’ Truce to the Peace of Munster, 1621–1648. The Stadholderate of Frederick Henry of Orange.”, in History of Holland (Cambridge Historical Series), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 147",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1939, Arnold J[oseph] Toynbee, “The Disintegrations of Civilizations (cont.)”, in A Study of History, volume VI, London: Oxford University Press; Geoffrey Cumberlege, […], published 1955, →OCLC, section C(II)(a) (The Relation between Disintegrating Civilizations and Individuals), page 177",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, “The Purple Heart Legacy”, in editorial staff of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and Turner Publishing Company, compilers, The Legacy of the Purple Heart, 4th edition, Paducah, Ky.: Turner Publishing Company, page 15",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party."
],
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"small",
"small"
],
[
"troop",
"troop#Noun"
],
[
"soldiers",
"soldier#Noun"
],
[
"picked",
"pick#Verb"
],
[
"make",
"make#Verb"
],
[
"advance",
"advance#Adjective"
],
[
"attack",
"attack#Noun"
],
[
"first",
"first#Adjective"
],
[
"storming",
"storm#Verb"
],
[
"party",
"party#Noun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, archaic)",
"A small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party."
],
"tags": [
"archaic"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with archaic senses",
"English terms with obsolete senses",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Military"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1539 April 9, Cuthbert Tunstall, A Sermon of Cuthbert Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, Preached on Palm Sunday, 1539, before King Henry VIII. […], London: […] [J. Compton, […]] for T[homas] Rodd, […], published 1823, →OCLC",
"text": "[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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"In the plural form forlorn hopes: the soldiers collectively making up such a troop; (by extension) a group of reckless adventurers."
],
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"forlorn hopes",
"forlorn hopes"
],
[
"collectively",
"collectively"
],
[
"making up",
"make up"
],
[
"group",
"group#Noun"
],
[
"reckless",
"reckless"
],
[
"adventurer",
"adventurer"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, archaic)",
"(obsolete) In the plural form forlorn hopes: the soldiers collectively making up such a troop; (by extension) a group of reckless adventurers."
],
"tags": [
"archaic",
"obsolete"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1841 June 23, Rutherford Alcock, “On Injuries of the Joints”, in Jerome V[an] C[rowninsfield] Smith, editor, The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume XXIV, number 20, Boston, Mass.: D. Clapp, Jr., […], →OCLC, page 329",
"text": "These cases form the forlorn hope in surgery; all saved are snatched from nearly certain death. [From the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions.]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1979, Allan Chapman, “Astrological Medicine”, in Charles Webster, editor, Health, Medicine and Mortality in the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, page 275",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1988, William Brinkley, “The Companion”, in The Last Ship: […], New York, N.Y.: Plume, published 2013, book III (The Search), page 171",
"text": "[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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Fred Schruers, “Living Here in Levittown”, in Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, part I (Origins: The Ballad of Billy the Kid), page 15",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any dangerous or hopeless venture."
],
"links": [
[
"dangerous",
"dangerous"
],
[
"hopeless",
"hopeless"
],
[
"venture",
"venture#Noun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(by extension) Any dangerous or hopeless venture."
],
"tags": [
"broadly"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/fəˌlɔːn ˈhəʊp/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/fɔː-/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/fɔɹˌlɔɹn ˈhoʊp/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-əʊp"
},
{
"audio": "En-us-forlorn hope.oga",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/09/En-us-forlorn_hope.oga/En-us-forlorn_hope.oga.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/En-us-forlorn_hope.oga",
"tags": [
"General-American"
],
"text": "Audio (GA)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "決死隊"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "决死队"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "etujoukko"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"masculine"
],
"word": "enfants perdus"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Verlorener Haufen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "fanti perduti"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "venturieri"
},
{
"alt": "けつしたい",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "ketsushitai",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "決死隊"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "te koiti o Rangapū"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack",
"word": "whakakā"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"word": "絕望的希望"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "juéwàngdexīwàng",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"word": "绝望的希望"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"word": "epätoivoinen yritys"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "dangerous or hopeless venture",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "impresa disperata"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Peninsular War",
"Siege of San Sebastián",
"William Barnes Wollen"
],
"word": "forlorn hope"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.