DESERT

desert

(noun) (usually plural) a person’s deservingness of or entitlement to reward or punishment

desert

(noun) arid land with little or no vegetation

abandon, forsake, desolate, desert

(verb) leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch; “The mother deserted her children”

desert

(verb) leave behind; “the students deserted the campus after the end of exam period”

defect, desert

(verb) desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army; “If soldiers deserted Hitler’s army, they were shot”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology 1

Noun

desert (plural deserts)

(usually, in the plural) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward

Usage notes

Sometimes confused with dessert, especially in set phrases such as just deserts.

Etymology 2

Noun

desert (countable and uncountable, plural deserts)

A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.

(figuratively) Any barren place or situation.

Adjective

desert (not comparable)

Usually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.

Etymology 3

Verb

desert (third-person singular simple present deserts, present participle deserting, simple past and past participle deserted)

To leave (anything that depends on one's presence to survive, exist, or succeed), especially when contrary to a promise or obligation; to abandon; to forsake.

To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.

Anagrams

• deters, rested

Source: Wiktionary

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De*sert", n. Etym: [OF. deserte, desserte, merit, recompense, fr. deservir, desservir, to merit. See Deserve.]

Definition: That which is deserved; the reward or the punishment justly due; claim to recompense, usually in a good sense; right to reward; merit. According to their deserts will I judge them. Ezek. vii. 27. Andronicus, surnamed Pius For many good and great deserts to Rome. Shak. His reputation falls far below his desert. A. Hamilton.

Syn.

– Merit; worth; excellence; due.

Des"ert, n. Etym: [F. désert, L. desertum, from desertus solitary, desert, pp. of deserere to desert; de- + serere to join together. See Series.]

1. A deserted or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population, as the vast sand plains of Asia and Africa are destitute and vegetation. A dreary desert and a gloomy waste. Pope.

2. A tract, which may be capable of sustaining a population, but has been left unoccupied and uncultivated; a wilderness; a solitary place. He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Is. li. 3.

Note: Also figuratively. Before her extended Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life. Longfellow.

Des"ert, a. Etym: [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere, and F. désert. See 2d Desert.]

Definition: Of or pertaining to a desert; forsaken; without life or cultivation; unproductive; waste; barren; wild; desolate; solitary; as, they landed on a desert island. He . . . went aside privately into a desert place. Luke ix. 10. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Gray. Desert flora (Bot.), the assemblage of plants growing naturally in a desert, or in a dry and apparently unproductive place.

– Desert hare (Zoöl.), a small hare (Lepus sylvaticus, var. Arizonæ) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States.

– Desert mouse (Zoöl.), an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the Western deserts.

De*sert", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deserted; p. pr. & vb. n. Deserting.] Etym: [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere to desert, F. déserter. See 2d Desert.]

1. 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.

2. (Mil.)

Definition: 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.

De*sert", v. i.

Definition: To abandon a service without leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond. The soldiers . . . deserted in numbers. Bancroft.

Syn.

– To abandon; forsake; leave; relinquish; renounce; quit; depart from; abdicate. See Abandon.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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