forlorn hope

English

Etymology

Partially translated (forlorn), partially borrowed (hoop (“pile, heap”)) from Dutch verloren hoop (literally “lost troop”). The Dutch word hoop in this expression, for which the sense “troop” is now obsolete, is a cognate of English heap.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fəˌlɔːnˈhəʊp/

Noun

forlorn hope (plural forlorn hopes)

1. (military) A small troop picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party.
   • 1880, Isaac Newton Arnold, Life of Benedict Arnold, page 82:

     Arnold, therefore, as usual with him, led the forlorn hope, marching about one hundred yards before the main body.

   • 1885, George Bruce Malleson, The Decisive Battles of India, page 323:

     Lieutenant Templeton of the 76th offered to lead the forlorn hope.

2. Any dangerous or hopeless venture.

Translations

small troop that makes an advanced attack

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 決死隊／决死队 (zh), 决死队 (zh)

• Finnish: etujoukko
• French: enfants perdus
• German: Forlorn Hope
• Italian: fanti perduti, venturieri
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 決死隊
• Maori: te koiti o Rangapū, whakakā
• Polish: Forlorn hope
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: Forlorn hope

hopeless venture

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: epätoivoinen yritys
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: impresa disperata f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "hopeless venture"

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 絕望的希望／绝望的希望, ^{(please verify)} 绝望的希望, ^{(please verify)} 絕路／绝路 (juélù), ^{(please verify)} 绝路 (zh) (juélù)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Synonyms

• (military) cannon fodder

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Forlorn hope”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
• Memoirs of a situationist drummer: on language and its uses in Principia Dialectica, July 16th, 2009
• Debord, Guy (1967) The society of the spectacle, thesis 115
• Grassi, Giuseppe (1833) Dizionario militare italiano p.107