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Desert   /dˈɛzərt/  /dɪzˈərt/   Listen
noun
Desert  n.  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." "Andronicus, surnamed Pius For many good and great deserts to Rome." "His reputation falls far below his desert."
Synonyms: Merit; worth; excellence; due.



Desert  n.  
1.
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. "A dreary desert and a gloomy waste."
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." Note: Also figuratively. "Before her extended Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life."



verb
Desert  v. t.  (past & past part. deserted; pres. part. deserting)  
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."
2.
(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.



Desert  v. i.  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."
Synonyms: To abandon; forsake; leave; relinquish; renounce; quit; depart from; abdicate. See Abandon.



adjective
Desert  adj.  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." "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
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. Arizonae) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States.
Desert mouse (Zool.), an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the Western deserts.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Desert" Quotes from Famous Books



... sleep beside her husband. An hour before he had waked, and, lying quietly by her, thinking no doubt of the woman for whom he was going to desert her, he had by chance touched her hand as it lay on the counterpane, with the shabby black rosary in it, ...
— The Halo • Bettina von Hutten

... while attempting to save themselves from the common conflagration. On the 22d of January, 1794, he wrote to the Committee of Public Safety of the National Convention: "Citizen Representatives!—A country of sixty leagues extent, I have the happiness to inform you, is now a perfect desert; not a dwelling, not a bush, but is reduced to ashes; and of one hundred and eighty thousand worthless inhabitants, not a soul breathes any longer. Men and women, old men and children, have all experienced the national ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... mind me Of the happy days gone over! Love was then behind me, Before me, and around; Then, light as air, I leapt, A laughing little rover, Now dull and heavy-stepped I pace this desert ground. ...
— A Celtic Psaltery • Alfred Perceval Graves

... again 'love' and 'darling,' and I care not where we are!" she answered, in tones of passionate entreaty. "Oh, Hartley, my dear, dear husband! A desert island, with you, would be a paradise; a paradise, without you, a weary desert! Say the words again. Call me 'darling!'" And she let her head fall ...
— After the Storm • T. S. Arthur

... the army would therefore be suicidal. The Army would gain a few thousand men, but its operations would be embarrassed, if not stopped altogether, by a want of supplies. This condition of affairs reminded one of the singular paucity of mechanical skill among the Bedouins of the desert, which renders the life of a blacksmith sacred. No matter how bitter the feud between tribes, no one will kill the other's workers of iron, and instances are told of warriors saving their lives at critical periods by falling on their ...
— Andersonville, complete • John McElroy


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