Lewis Short
dēspērātĭo (noun F) : despero
* Hopelessness, despair: desperatio est aegritudo sine ulla rerum exspectatione meliorum,Cic. Tusc. 4, 8, 18.
* Prop. (good prose and very freq.).
* With gen.: omnium rerum amissio et desperatio recuperandi,Cic. Fam. 4, 3, 2: omnium rerum,id. Cat. 2, 11 fin. (opp. bona spes); Liv. 21, 1; Suet. Ner. 2 et saep.: victoriae,Cic. Phil. 8, 5: magna pacis,Caes. B. C. 1, 11, 3: omnium salutis,id. ib. 1, 5, 3; Liv. 3, 2 et saep.
* Meton., desperate boldness, foolhardiness: desperatio truculentae feminae, Ap. M. 10, p. 251: periculosa,Vulg. 2 Reg. 2, 26; id. Sirach, 27, 24.
Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary