forlorn hope

The Sailor's Word-Book

Officers and men detached on desperate service to make a first attack, or to be the first in mounting a breach, or foremost in storming a fortress, or first to receive the whole fire of the enemy. Forlorn-hopes was a term formerly applied to the videttes of the army. This ominous name (the enfants perdus of the French) is familiarized into a better one among soldiers, who call it the flowing-hope. Promotion is usually bestowed on the survivors.

The Sailor's Word-Book

← forkers × formation →

Related Words

forlorn hope
A gamester's last stake. ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
Forlorn
·noun A forlorn hope; a vanguard. II. Forlorn ·vt Deserted; abandoned; lost. III. Forlorn ·- of <<...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
Hope
·noun A small bay; an inlet; a haven. II. Hope ·noun A sloping plain between mountain ridges. III....

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
Hope
One of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Cor. 13:13). It is joined to faith and love...

Easton's Bible Dictionary
hope
A small bay; it was an early term for valley, and is still used in Kent for a brook, and gives name ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
Hope, Thomas
(1770-1831) Novelist and writer on art, was a wealthy merchant of Amsterdam, of Scotch descent, his...

Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by John W. Cousin
"Hope, Anthony"
see Hawkins, Anthony Hope. ...

Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by John W. Cousin
flowing-hope
See forlorn hope. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
lower-hope
A well-known reach in the Thames where ships wait for the turn of the tide. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
Hawkins, Anthony Hope ("Anthony Hope")
(b. 1863) Novelist. The Prisoner of Zenda, The God in the Car, Dolly Dialogues, Rupert of Hentzau, ...

Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by John W. Cousin
Blakehors on the Hope
See Blackhorse Alley, Court, Fleet Street. ...

A Dictionary of London by Henry A Harben.
Iren on the Hope
A tenement so called in parish of St. Mary Magdalene in Olde fisshe-strete, in ward of Castle baynar...

A Dictionary of London by Henry A Harben.