Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Despair

Despair , intransitive verb

[Old English despeiren, dispeiren, Old French desperer, from Latin desperare; de- + sperare to hope; akin to spes hope, and perh. to spatium space, English space, speed; compare Old French espeir hope, French espoir. Compare Prosper, Desperate.]

To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation; -- often with of.
We despaired even of life. — 2 Cor. i. 8
Never despair of God's blessings here. — Wake

Despair , transitive verb

1.
To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of. [Obsolete]
I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted. — Milton
2.
To cause to despair. [Obsolete] — Sir W. Williams

Despair , noun

[Compare Old French despoir, from desperer.]

1.
Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency.
We in dark dreams are tossing to and fro, Pine with regret, or sicken with despair. — Keble
Before he [Bunyan] was ten, his sports were interrupted by fits of remorse and despair. — Macaulay
2.
That which is despaired of.
The mere despair of surgery he cures. — Shakespeare