crestfallen
adjUK /ˈkɹɛstfɔːlən/ · US /ˈkɹɛstfɔlən/
Etymology From crest + fallen, from the appearance of a horse with its crest (head) on its chest after defeat in a battle.
1
Sad because of a disappointment.
- Tom's cheeks burned. He gathered himself up and sneaked off, crushed and crestfallen.1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XII, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 112:
- Gregson looked quite crest-fallen.1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter VI (Tobias Gregson shows What He Can Do), page 38:
4 more examples
- Hall tried to convey everything by grimaces and dumb show, but Mrs. Hall was obdurate. She raised her voice. So Hall and Henfrey, rather crestfallen, tiptoed back to the bar, gesticulating to explain to her.1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 12, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
- 'He did it awfully well,' said the crestfallen Rat.1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, chapter 6, in The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
- I rushed there; no lamp! Crestfallen, I returned to my guru.1946, Paramahansa Yogananda, chapter 15, in Autobiography of a Yogi:
- And we can sense that, though permanently crestfallen, there is something in his nature, which makes him accept solitude, that is rather fearless.1995, Roger Lewis, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, page 743:
2
Obsolete, Of a horse Having the crest, or upper part of the neck, hanging to one side.
- Synonyms
- disappointed, disillusioned, blue, dejected, despondent, depressed, downcast, down in the dumps, sorrowful
- Derived terms
- crest-fall, crestfallenly, crestfallenness