sb. and a. Obs. exc. arch. Also 3–4 wane-, 4 won-, Sc. van-, 4–5 whan-, 5 wann-, 6–7 wanne-; 4 -hop, 5 -hoppe. [f. WAN- + HOPE sb.1 Cf. MLG., MDu. wanhope (mod.Du. -hoop), whence MSw. vanhop, MDa. vanhob. Cf. UNHOPE.]
A. sb. 1. Hopelessness, despair.
In early use chiefly, despair of salvation. Hence often in amatory compositions which imitate religious language.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6832. Is men as in wanhope wende hom aȝen bliue.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 25769. Þou sinful, be þan war wit-all In wreche wanhop þat þou ne fall. Ibid., 28345. Þat has don me for to fall in wane-hope.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 5170. Sloghenes, hyt wyl þe grope To brynge þe yn-to whanhope.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 951. Ne beo þou in wonhope non.
c. 1366. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 981. Fiue arowis were of other gise … The thridde of hem was clepe Shame. The fourthe, Wanhope cleped is. Ibid. (139[?]), Pars. T., ¶ 693 (Egerton MS.). Wanhope, þat is, dispeire of the mercy of god.
c. 1425. Eng. Conq. Irel., 32. Her of come the Englysshe hope & comfort; & to the Iresshe, dred & wanhope.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.), 28. Yt wedded folk of wanhope shuld noght be Trowing the stat sauvable of onely virginitee.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 21. He wente out of the oracle … al bare of gladnes and al oppressyd and enuironed wyth wanhope cam to his folk.
a. 1518. Skelton, Magnyf., 2337. There is no man may synne more mortally Than of Wanhope thrughe the vnhappy wayes, By Myschefe to breuyate and shorten his dayes.
a. 1542. Wyatt, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 59. Renewyng with my sute my payne, My wanhope with your stedfastnesse.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent, 68. They … were driuen in the end, to giue ouer in the plain field, for very dispaire, wanhope, and weerinesse.
1861. Temple Bar, Dec., 157. Wan-hope had weighed my spirit to the dust.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. III. 279. And [ed. 1903 But] creeping wanhope did he still withstand. Ibid. (1894), Wood beyond World, 221. Two days he battled thus with storm & blindness, & wanhope of his life.
¶ 2. Erroneous uses. † a. = Vain hope.
There is an apparent instance in the edd. of Douglas, Æn., I. vi. 82, but the Camb. MS. has with vaynhope [L. vana spe].
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 145. Hoppe is a ryghtfull tryste for a ryghtfull Werke, i-put be-twen wanhoppe and dysspayre, or presompsion of goodis to come aftyr to be hadde, And of illis to come afftyr to be Enchued.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 48. That they should brynge her yf yt were possible into some wanhope, or as men saie into a fooles paradise.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, H ij. A few yeres haue they spente yet, in great wanhope, and pleasure [L. summa cum voluptate]. Ibid. (a. 1565), trans. Boeth., I. met. vii. 22, in Q. Eliz., Englishings, 158. Wan hope forbere [L. spem fugato].
1570. Levins, Manip., 170/4. Wanhope, falsa spes.
1583. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., III. 114 b. Suffer not your selues to be abused by fables and trifling toyes, neither be you carried away with a Wanhope.
1593. G. Harvey, New Let., B. A wan, or windy Hope, is a notable breake-necke vnto itselfe.
† b. In late 16th-c. and early 17th-c. writers wan hope (two words) seems to be used for ‘faint hope,’ as if containing WAN a. Obs.
1558. in Froude, Hist. Eng. (1870), VI. 80. [There was but] a wan hope of recovering Calais.
1586. A. Day, Engl. Secretorie, I. (1625), 93. The intollerable woes wherein I lived … might have kindled in me some wan hope one day to have found an hour so happy wherein by a right conceit … our natural care might in some sort or other have been renued.
1589. Lodge, Scillaes Metam., B 3 b. I curse fond Loue and Fortune durelesse, Wan hope my weale, my trust but bad aduenture.
1590. Sidney, Arcadia, II. iii. (1912), 164. My sheepe are thoughts,… My sheepehooke is wanne hope, which all upholdes.
1607. R. C[arew], trans. Estienne’s World Wond., I. xxvi. 213. At last he remembered that the king had often showed mercy on malefactors, and thereupon conceiuing some wanne hope, he was euer harping vpon that string.
1610. Folkingham, Feudigr., I. x. 28. And though the small show of winter verdure giues wanne hope, yet his faire May-florish reuiues the drooping spirits of the doubtful and wauering experimenter, with ful assurance of a rich vesture for haruest.
1612. J. Davies (Heref.), Muse’s Sacrif. (Grosart), 12/1. My Soule dismai’d, not knowing where to flee, With hands of Hope (wan Hope) at thee doth graspe.
1648. G. Daniel, Eclog, iv. 169. This, his last Refuge, a wan hope, to bring Himselfe to former Glories of a Kinge.
† B. adj. [Cf. MSw. vanhopa adj.] That has no hope, despairing. Obs.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rom., xii. 4–16. Suffer it, not with heauye heartes, as men that are wanhope [later edd. in wanhope, in dispaire], but [etc.].
Hence † Wanhope v. [= MLG. wanhopen, MSw. vanhopa, MDa. vanhobe] to despair. † Wanhoping vbl. sb. † Wanhopefully adv., despairingly. † Wanhopely a., hopeless.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 25820. Þai … wines for þair mikel sin neuer to merci for to win, and suagat for þair wanhopping þai fall wit-vten vp-couering.
c. 1425. Eng. Conq. Irel., 26. He was neuer whan-hopefully argh, ne aferd, ne amayed of hert. Ibid., 88. In the man of blode, the blode shall aryse, & wanhoply shal hys pynsynge be.
13[?]. Celestin, 22, in Anglia, I. 68. Hadde a man neuere so myche mys wroughte, To godes mercy wanhope he nought.
