Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An arduous or nearly hopeless undertaking.
- noun An advance guard of troops sent on a hazardous mission.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun military A small
troop picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; astorming party. - noun Any
dangerous orhopeless venture .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a hopeless or desperate enterprise
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[By folk etymology from Dutch verloren hoop, advance guard : verloren, past participle of verliezen, to lose; see leu- in Indo-European roots + hoop, troop.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From forlorn + hope, in part-translation of Dutch verloren hoop ‘lost troop’.
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Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
chained_bear commented on the word forlorn hope
"a party detached to go on some desperate service." Compare enfans perdus.
October 9, 2008