E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Defeat.
“What though the field be lost? all is not lost.” (Milton: Paradise Lost, i. line 105–6.)
1
“All is lost but honour” (Tout est perdu, madame, fors l’honneur) is what Francois I. is said to have written to his mother, after the Battle of Pavia in 1525.
