deserts
plural of desert
deserts
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of desert
• dessert, tressed
Source: Wiktionary
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
19 April 2025
(verb) grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of; “did you catch that allusion?”; “We caught something of his theory in the lecture”; “don’t catch your meaning”; “did you get it?”; “She didn’t get the joke”; “I just don’t get him”
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