forlorn
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.001
Etymology
From Middle English forlorn, forloren, from Old English forloren (past participle of forlēosan ("to lose")), from Proto-Germanic *fraluzanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną, equivalent to for- + lorn.
Pronunciation Adjectiveforlorn (comparative forlorner, superlative forlornest)
- Abandoned, deserted, left behind.
- c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:
- Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.
- Pitifully sad, wretched, miserable; lonely, especially from feeling abandoned, deserted, forsaken.
- Synonyms: forsaken
- 1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way :
- Come, stack arms, Men! Pile on the rails; stir up the campfire bright; no matter if the canteen fails, we'll make a roaring night. Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o’er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true. The “Blue-Light Elder” knows ’em well; says he, “That’s Banks — he’s fond of shell; Lord save his soul! We’ll give him” — well, that’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Silence! Ground arms! Kneel all! Caps off! Old Blue Light’s going to pray. Strangle the fool that dares to scoff: Attention! 'Tis his way. Appealing from his native sod in forma pauperis to God: “Lay bare thine arm, stretch forth thy rod! Amen!” That’s “Stonewall’s Way.”
He’s in the saddle now. Fall in! Steady, the whole brigade! Hill’s at the ford, cut off — we’ll win his way out, ball and blade! What matter if our shoes are worn? What matter if our feet are torn? “Quick step! We’re with him before the morn!” That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
The sun’s bright lances rout the mists of morning, and by George! Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists, hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees, whipped before, “Bay’nets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar; “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!” in “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Ah! Maiden, wait and watch and yearn for news of Stonewall’s band! Ah! Widow read with eyes that burn that ring upon thy hand. Ah! Wife, sew on, pray on, hope on! Thy life shall not be all forlorn. The foe had better ne’er been born that gets in “Stonewall’s Way.”
- Come, stack arms, Men! Pile on the rails; stir up the campfire bright; no matter if the canteen fails, we'll make a roaring night. Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
- Unlikely to succeed; hopeless.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, “Dusk”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 226 ↗:
- Well! It is a forlorn hope at the best, and not much the forlorner for being delayed till dark.
- French: abandonné, perdu
- German: verlassen
- Italian: abbandonato, negletto, derelitto, dimenticato
- Portuguese: abandonado
- Russian: забро́шенный
- Spanish: abandonado
- French: misérable
- German: verlassen
- Italian: miserevole
- Portuguese: desamparado
- Russian: несча́стный
- Spanish: desamparado
- French: désespéré
- German: aussichtslos, hoffnungslos
- Spanish: desesperado
forlorn (plural forlorns) (military)
- A forlorn hope.
- A member of a forlorn hope.
- (obsolete) past participle of forlese.
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.001
