lorn, ppl. a.
(lɔːn)
[pa. pple. of leese v.1]
† 1. Lost, perished, ruined; doomed to destruction. Obs.
For early instances of predicative use, see leese v.1
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22080 Al þat birth þat þar es born be wick, and fals, and felun lorn. a 1400–50 Alexander 5 Sayntis, Þat lete þer lifis be lorne for oure lordis sake. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. vi. 9 O, stanch ȝour wraith for schame, or all is lorn! 1556 Abp. Parker Ps. lxxxvii. Argt., Hierusalem most fortunate, To nurse both Iewe and gentile lorne. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. i. xxiii, If thou readest, thou art lorn! Better hadst thou ne'er been born! |
2. Abandoned, left alone; bereft of; lonely, desolate, wretched; = forlorn 4, 5.
| c 1475 Partenay 3885 Raymound, out fro wit for wo almoste lorn. 1563 Sackville Mirr. Mag. Induct. lxxvii, With gastly lookes as one in maner lorne. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 62, I..am forlorne, (alas! why am I lorne?). 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. i. 57 If any thing excuse Iehosophat or Hezechias for suffering the Idolatrous Temples..it was because they were lorne, forlorne. 1748 Collins Ode Death Thomson viii, Lorn Stream, whose sullen tide No sedge-crown'd Sisters now attend. ? 1793 Coleridge Lines beautiful Spring 18 The rustic..Whistling lorn ditties leans upon his crook. 1817 Moore Lalla R. ii. (1850) 66 That sky Hath nought beneath it half so lorn as I. 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 118 Space starr'd, and lorn of light. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 363 When lorn lovers sit and droop. 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 281 She might be despised by my lord's circle, and left lone and lorn. |
Hence ˈlornness, forlornness.
| 1866 Lond. Rev. 28 Apr. 470/2 The very lornness of his condition won for him their tender consideration. |