Of fortune and of hope at once forlorn. --Spenser.
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children.
--Shak.
2. Destitute; helpless; in pitiful plight; wretched;
miserable; almost hopeless; desperate.
For here forlorn and lost I tread. --Goldsmith.
The condition of the besieged in the mean time was
forlorn in the extreme. --Prescott.
She cherished the forlorn hope that he was still
living. --Thomson.
{A forlorn hope} [D. verloren hoop, prop., a lost band or
troop; verloren, p. p. of verliezen to lose + hoop band;
akin to E. heap. See {For-}, and {Heap}.] (Mil.), a body
of men (called in F. enfants perdus, in G. verlornen
posten) selected, usually from volunteers, to attempt a
breach, scale the wall of a fortress, or perform other
extraordinarily perilous service; also, a desperate case
or enterprise.
Syn: Destitute, lost; abandoned; forsaken; solitary;
helpless; friendless; hopeless; abject; wretched;
miserable; pitiable.
Forced to live in Scotland a forlorn. --Shak.
2. A forlorn hope; a vanguard. [Obs.]
Our forlorn of horse marched within a mile of the
enemy. --Oliver
Cromvell.