1. Deserted; destitute; stripped or deprived; forsaken. Hence, lost; helpless; wretched; solitary.
Of fortune and of hope at once forlorn.
To live again in these wild woods forlorn.
For here forlorn and lost I tread.
2. Taken away. Obs.
When as night hath us of light forlorn.
3. Small; despicable; in a ludicrous sense.
Forlorn hope, properly, a desperate case; hence in military affairs, a detachment of men appointed to lead in an assault, to storm a counterscarp, enter a breach, or perform other service attended with uncommon peril.
FORLORN', n. A lost, forsaken, solitary person.