Despond

v. i. [imp. & p. p. DESPONDED; p. pr. & vb. n. DESPONDING.] [Lat. despondēre, to promise away, to promise in marriage, to give up, to lose courage, from de and spondēre, to promise solemnly: O. Fr. despondre.] To give up; to abandon hope; to lose courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to despair.

I should despair, or at least despond. Scott’s Letters.

Others depress their own minds, [and] despond at the first difficulty. Locke.

We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand strong. D. Webster.

Synonyms— DESPOND, DESPAIR. Although despair implies a total loss of hope, which despond does not, at least in every case, yet despondency is followed by the abandonment of effort, or cessation of action, and despair sometimes impels to violent action, even to rage.

n. Despondency. [Obs.] “The slough of despond.” Bunyan.