(UK, dated) To be unable to do anything (about something) other than hope ; especially with long odds.
(UK, dated) To be unable to do anything (about something) other than hope ; especially with long odds.
No comments yet — say something.
Add your own interpretation of "can but hope".
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Browse all slang words starting with C.
(slang, euphemistic) To be unwilling to; to not have the desire of; to don’t want to.
(UK, _, dialectal) To hope.
To be forbidden to; to be not permitted to.
While something is possible or makes sense in theory, it may not be as straightforward or sensible as initially thought, or may prove to be less successful in practice.
(UK, _, dialectal) Hopefulness; sanguineness.