GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 5 definitions

1.       
   Desert , n. [OF. deserte, desserte, merit, recompense, fr. deservir, desservir, to merit. See Deserve.] That which is deserved; the reward or the punishment justly due; claim to recompense, usually in a good sense; right to reward; merit.
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   According to their deserts will I judge them.
   Ezek. vii. 27.
   
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   Andronicus, surnamed Pius
   For many good and great deserts to Rome.
   Shak.
   
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   His reputation falls far below his desert.
   A. Hamilton.
   Syn. -- Merit; worth; excellence; due.
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2.       
   Desert , n. [F. désert, L. desertum, from desertus solitary, desert, pp. of deserere to desert; de- + serere to join together. See Series.]
   A deserted or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population, as the vast sand plains of Asia and Africa which are destitute of moisture and vegetation.
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   A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.
   Pope.
   
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   A tract, which may be capable of sustaining a population, but has been left unoccupied and uncultivated; a wilderness; a solitary place.
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   He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.
   Is. li. 3.
   
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   Also figuratively.
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   Before her extended
   Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life.
   Longfellow.
   
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3.       
   Desert, a. [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere, and F. désert. See 2d Desert.] Of or pertaining to a desert; forsaken; without life or cultivation; unproductive; waste; barren; wild; desolate; solitary; as, they landed on a desert island.
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   He . . . went aside privately into a desert place.
   Luke ix. 10.
   
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   Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
   And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
   Gray.
   
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   Desert flora (Bot.), the assemblage of plants growing naturally in a desert, or in a dry and apparently unproductive place. -- Desert hare (Zool.), a small hare (Lepus sylvaticus, var. Arizonæ) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States. -- Desert mouse (Zool.), an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the Western deserts.
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4.       
   Desert , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deserted; p. pr. & vb. n. Deserting.] [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere to desert, F. déserter. See 2d Desert.]
   To leave (especially something which one should stay by and support); to leave in the lurch; to abandon; to forsake; -- implying blame, except sometimes when used of localities; as, to desert a friend, a principle, a cause, one's country. “The deserted fortress.”  
   Prescott.
   
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   (Mil.) To abandon (the service) without leave; to forsake in violation of duty; to abscond from; as, to desert the army; to desert one's colors.
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5.       
   Desert, v. i. To abandon a service without leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond.
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   The soldiers . . . deserted in numbers.
   Bancroft.
   Syn. -- To abandon; forsake; leave; relinquish; renounce; quit; depart from; abdicate. See Abandon.
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