forlorn hope

短语

n. 敢死队, 希望甚微孤注一掷的事业

发音

UK /fəˌlɔːn ˈhəʊp/
UK /fɔː-/
US /fɔɹˌlɔɹn ˈhoʊp/

词形变化

forlorn hopes 复数 forlorn hopes

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

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

    决死队

    古体 政治 军事
  2. 2.

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

    古体 废旧 政治 军事
  3. 3.

    Any dangerous or hopeless venture.

    绝望的希望

    引申义

词汇关系

名词

上位词 3

enterprise endeavor endeavour

词源

Sense 1 (“troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack”) is a mistranslation of Dutch verloren hoop (literally “lost troop”): verloren (“lost”, adjective) + hoop (“(obsolete) unit of soldiers, contingent; heap, pile, stack”), mistaking the latter word for the homograph hoop (“hope”). Verloren is the past participle of verliezen (“to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to cease to have, lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”) + *lewH- (“to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose”)), while hoop is ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haupaz (“a crowd, throng; a heap, pile”), from Proto-Indo-European *kouHp-nó- or *keHup-. Sense 2 (“dangerous or hopeless venture”) is either an extension of the meaning of sense 1, or from the literal meaning of the words forlorn and hope.

来源：wiktionary