forlorn hope

forlorn hope

1. An undertaking that seems very unlikely to succeed. This plan you have is a forlorn hope and will never work out the way you want.
2. A group of soldiers sent on an extremely dangerous mission. The phrase comes from the Dutch verloren hoop, meaning "lost troop." Have you heard anything from the forlorn hope yet? Did they reach their target?
See also: forlorn, hope
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a forlorn hope

a faint remaining hope or chance; a desperate attempt.
This expression developed in the mid 16th century from the Dutch expression verloren hoop ‘lost troop’. The phrase originally denoted a band of soldiers picked to begin an attack, many of whom would not survive; the equivalent French phrase is enfants perdus ‘lost children’. The current sense, which dates from the mid 17th century, arose from a misunderstanding of the etymology.
See also: forlorn, hope
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

forlorn hope

An undertaking with little chance of success; a lost cause. This expression, while seemingly quite straightforward in English, actually came from a Dutch term of the late sixteenth century, verloren hoop, which meant “a lost troop of soldiers,” that is, an expendable squad. The British mistook hoop for hope and changed the meaning to a desperate undertaking, which has persisted since the seventeenth century.
See also: forlorn, hope
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • forlorn
  • a forlorn hope
  • hope
  • it's crunch time
  • crunch time
  • lifeline
  • throw (one) a lifeline
  • throw a lifeline to
  • throw a lifeline to (someone)
  • duckling
References in periodicals archive
So much so that it is traditional for outgoing presidents to see out their last months shuttling around the Middle East in the always forlorn hope that their 'nothing to lose' end-ofterm straight-talking could achieve what their predecessors could not.
24 hours: Can Middle East peace wait for President Obama?
I am not talking in forlorn hope but in spiritual fact." Jesus entered the world as the new beginning of the Kingdom of God and came to demonstrate the Power of the Kingdom.
Heaven on Earth
But, even the forlorn hope of a consolation goal went sailing away on the wind whenMerthyr'sMike Jones became the second Martyr to be sent off after a clash with Poole goalkeeper Mark Jones on 75minutes.
Martyrs are down - and out; FA CUP
The best bet here is a book by J Kitzmiller, titled 'In Search of the Forlorn Hope: A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and Their Records'.
WHERE DID HE SERVE IN ARMY?
Post-9/11, Kaern reads a news story quoting an Afghan teen as longing one day to fly professionally--a forlorn hope, perhaps, given the country's chaos and religious conservatism toward women's freedoms.
Smiling in a War Zone
Martin O'Neill is clearly stalling in the forlorn hope that he'll get the England job and I'd much rather have Roeder - at least he is passionate about the club.
EUR50 STAR LETTER
The extract from The Sharpe Companion on the role of the Forlorn Hope, which appeared in the December 2003 issue of Sabretache, recalls Australian connections with the Forlorn Hope at one of the most famous, and bloodiest, actions of the Peninsular War--the assault on the breach of the fortress city of Badajoz on the night of 6 April 1812.
The Forlorn Hope and Australia
But that's a forlorn hope. Former prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien have stacked the appeal courts with so many dogmatic gay-rights ideologues that an appellant in a case like Kempling's is exceedingly unlikely to get a fair hearing.
Understanding the Kempling ruling
By contrast, Rangers go to Stuttgart on Wednesday with only a forlorn hope of making progress.
Leggoland: Now it's up to Eu Celts n' Gers to lift us all
Many researchers think that's a forlorn hope, however.
A dark force in the universe: scientists try to determine what's revving up the cosmos
That there could be a grown-up agreement on a common position between the SNP leader and the Tory PM was a forlorn hope.
Battle lines drawn for future of UK; RECORD View AFTER the shock of the result and the phoney war of the summer, the real Brexit battle lines are being drawn
Despite being quoted as a 50-1 outsider he is no forlorn hope.
Final climb may not suit sprinters; CYCLING
A POLICE officer told the Hillsborough inquests of his "forlorn hope" as he tried to help a mum-of-two through the fencing of the pens.
Police officer: I tried to help mum through fence; 'FORLORN' HOPE OF SAVING WOMAN CAUGHT IN PEN 3
This cruel and forlorn hope is raised wherever young Asian girls meet.
Murdered Varka won't be the last
But McCoy, who was retained by Martin Pipe when landing the award in 1997 and 1998, is no forlorn hope.
IT'S worth throwing a couple []; NEWSBOY; Has burned the midnight oil to come up with two big-priced Festival fancies