Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Desert?

\De*sert"\, 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. 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. [F. d['e]sert, 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. [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere, and F. d['e]sert. 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. 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} (Zo["o]l.), a small hare ({Lepus sylvaticus}, var. Arizon[ae]) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States. {Desert mouse} (Zo["o]l.), an American mouse ({Hesperomys eremicus}), living in the Western deserts.
\De*sert"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Deserted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Deserting}.] [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere to desert, F. d['e]serter. 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.) 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. 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}.