forlorn adj
1 miserable, wretched, or cheerless; desolate
3 destitute; bereft
forlorn of hope
4 desperate
the last forlorn attempt
(Old English forloren lost, from forleosan to lose; related to Old Saxon farliosan, Gothic fraliusan, Greek luein to release)
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forlornly adv
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forlornness n
forlorn hope n
1 a hopeless or desperate enterprise
3 Obsolete a group of soldiers assigned to an extremely dangerous duty
(C16 (in the obsolete sense): changed (by folk etymology) from Dutch verloren hoop lost troop, from verloren, past participle of verliezen to lose + hoop troop (literally: heap))