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forlorn hope

American  

noun

  1. a perilous or desperate enterprise.

  2. a vain hope.

  3. Obsolete. a group of soldiers assigned to perform some unusually dangerous service.

forlorn hope British  

noun

  1. a hopeless or desperate enterprise

  2. a faint hope

  3. obsolete a group of soldiers assigned to an extremely dangerous duty

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of forlorn hope

1530–40; folk-etymological alteration of Dutch verloren hoop literally, lost troop

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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