To be cast down; to be depressed or dejected in mind; to fail in spirits. I should despair, or at least despond.

To lose all courage, spirit or resolution; to sink by loss of hope. Others depress their own mind, and despond at the first difficulty: . Note. The distinction between despair and despond is well marked in the foregoing passage from Scott. But 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 impelss to violent action, even to rage.