▪ I. deˈsponding, vbl. n.
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb despond, q.v.
| 1818 Blackw. Mag. IV. 1 The..gloomy despondings, which deform and darken the native majesty of Byron. |
▪ II. deˈsponding, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That desponds; losing or having lost heart or resolution.
| 1688 Dryden Brit. Rediv. 258 Desponding Peter sinking in the waves. a 1690 E. Hopkins Expos. Lord's Prayer (R.), With no tormenting, carking, and desponding thoughts. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 195 Why should desponding fears oppress your souls? 1828 Scott F.M. Perth viii, The Glover seemed particularly desponding. 1843 J. Martineau Chr. Life (1867) 63 The desponding are generally the indolent and useless. 1868 Milman St. Paul's 348 The weak and desponding defence of a lost cause. |
b. Causing despondency, dispiriting. rare.
| 1800 Invisible Man I. 113 Accounts the more desponding to me, as he informs me he shall be here to-morrow. |
| Comb. 1803 Beddoes Hygeia x. 5 His desponding-mad Ophelia, his raving-mad Lear, his jealous-mad Othello. |