forlorn hope

plural forlorn hopes

1. archaicgovernmentA small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party.

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

   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

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   Ped[ro]. Stand to your guard ſir, all the devils extant / Are broke upon us, like a cloud of thunder; / There are more women, marching hitherward, / In reſcue of my Miſtris, then ere turn’d taile / At Sturbridge Faire; and I believe, as fiery. / Jaq[ues]. The forlorn-hope’s led by a tanners wife, / I know her by her hide; a deſperate woman: [...]

   c. 1609–1622?, John Fletcher, “The Womans Prize: Or, The Tamer Tamed”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene v, page 106, column 1

   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.

   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

   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.

   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

   […] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume I, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 134

   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.

   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

2. archaicobsoletegovernmentIn the plural form forlorn hopes: the soldiers collectively making up such a troop; (by extension) a group of reckless adventurers.

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   [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.

   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

3. broadlyAny dangerous or hopeless venture.

   [I]t would be a cruel rebuff to a being who was appealing to him as a forlorn hope under the shadow of a coming doom.

   1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XL, in Daniel Deronda, volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book V (Mordecai), pages 186–187

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   From the tete-a-tete with Mr. Thomas Tough, ſhe goes to her deſk again, and begins to write "With what appetite ſhe may," in the forlorn hope of procuring from her bookſeller part of the money ſhe has been compelled to promiſe to the ſaid Thomas's peremptory demands, on behalf of Mr. Humphrey Hotgooſe.

   1794, Charlotte Smith, chapter XI, in The Banished Man. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, page 226

   These cases form the forlorn hope in surgery; all saved are snatched from nearly certain death. [From the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions.]

   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

   [A]s Mark, with all his vigilance, was unable to keep them [visitors] from the door; he resolved to go to bed—not that he felt at all sure of bed being any protection, but that he might not leave a forlorn hope untried.

   1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, “From which It will be Seen that Martin Became a Lion on His Own Account. Together with the Reason Why.”, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 277

   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.

   1979, Allan Chapman, “Astrological Medicine”, in Charles Webster, editor, Health, Medicine and Mortality in the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 275

   [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.

   1988, William Brinkley, “The Companion”, in The Last Ship: […], New York, N.Y.: Plume, published 2013, →ISBN, book III (The Search), page 171