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Webster 1913 Edition

Desert

De-sert′

(dē̍-zẽrt′)
,
Noun.
[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.
Shakespeare
Syn. – Merit; worth; excellence; due.

Des′ert

(dĕz′ẽrt)
,
Noun.
[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 which are destitute of moisture 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.
Also figuratively.
Before her extended
Dreary and vast and silent, the
desert
of life.
Longfellow.

Des′ert

,
Adj.
[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
.
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
(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.

De-sert′

(dē̍-zẽrt′)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Deserted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Deserting
.]
[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.)
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′

,
Verb.
I.
To abandon a service without leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond.
Syn. – To abandon; forsake; leave; relinquish; renounce; quit; depart from; abdicate. See
Abandon
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Desert

DESERT

,
Adj.
S as z [L. To sow, plant or scatter.]
1.
Literally, forsaken; hence, uninhabited; as a desert isle. Hence, wild; untilled; waste; uncultivated; as a desert land or country.
2.
Void; emprty; unoccupied.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air.

DESERT

,
Noun.
An uninhabited tract of land; a region in its natural state; a wilderness; a solitude; particularly, a vast sandy plain, as the deserts of Arabia and Africa. But the word may be applied to an uninhabited country covered with wood.

DESERT

,
Verb.
T.
[L. To forsake.]
1.
To forsake; to leave utterly; to abandon; to quit with a view not to return to; as, to desert a friend; to desert our country; to desert a cause.
2.
To leave, without permission, a military band, or a ship, in which one is enlisted; to forsake the service in which one is engaged, in violation of duty; as, to desert the army; to desert ones colors; to desert a ship.

DESERT

,
Verb.
I.
To run away; to quit a service without permission; as, to desert from the army.

DESERT

, n.
1.
A deserving; that which gives a right to reward or demands, or which renders liable to punishment; merit or demerit; that which entitles to a recompense of equal to the offense; good conferred, or evil done, which merits an equivalent return. A wise legislature will reward or punish men according to their deserts.
2.
That which is deserved; reward or punishment merited. In a future life, every man will receive his desert.

Definition 2024

desert

desert

See also: désert, desèrt, and deșert

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈzɜː(ɹ)t/
  • (US) IPA(key): /dɪˈzəɹt/, /dəˈzəɹt/
  • Homophone: dessert

Noun

desert ‎(plural deserts)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward
    • 1600, John Dowland, Flow My Tears
      From the highest spire of contentment / my fortune is thrown; / and fear and grief and pain for my deserts / are my hopes, since hope is gone.
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21
      "Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not hear it of you. And I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!"
    • A. Hamilton
      His reputation falls far below his desert.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

French désert or Old French desert, from Vulgar Latin desertum, from Latin dēsertus ‎(“left waste”), past participle of dēserō ‎(“to abandon”), possibly influenced in meaning by ancient Egyptian dšrt ‎(“red land, Sahara”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɛzə(ɹ)t/
  • (US) enPR: dĕ'zə(r)t, IPA(key): /ˈdɛzɚt/

Noun

desert ‎(countable and uncountable, plural deserts)

  1. A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
    • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
      Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, / A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.
    • 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
      The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.
  2. (figuratively) Any barren place or situation.
    • 1858, William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria (page 54)
      He declared that the country was an intellectual desert; that he was famishing for spiritual aliment, and for discourse on matters beyond mere nuggets, prospectings, and the price of gold.
    • 2006, Philip N. Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and Pitfalls (page 34)
      So the question that is commonly asked is, why put a media incubator in a media desert and have it managed by a civil servant?
Translations

Adjective

desert ‎(not comparable)

  1. Abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited; usually of a place.
    They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.
    • Bible, Luke ix. 10
      He […] went aside privately into a desert place.
    • Gray
      Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

From French déserter, from Late Latin desertare, from Latin desertus, from desero ‎(“abandon”)

Pronunciation

  • enPR: dĭzû(r)t', IPA(key): /dɪˈzɜː(ɹ)t/

Verb

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

  1. 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.
    You can't just drive off and desert me here, in the middle of nowhere.
  2. To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.
    Anyone found deserting will be shot.
Derived terms
Translations

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin dēsertum.

Noun

desert m ‎(plural deserts)

  1. desert (desolate terrain)

Friulian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin dēsertum.

Noun

desert m ‎(plural deserts)

  1. desert

Middle French

Etymology

From Latin dēsertum.

Noun

desert m (plural desers)

  1. desert (desolate terrain)

Old French

Etymology

From Latin dēsertum.

Noun

desert m ‎(oblique plural deserz or desertz, nominative singular deserz or desertz, nominative plural desert)

  1. desert (desolate terrain)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From French dessert.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /děsert/
  • Hyphenation: de‧sert

Noun

dèsert m ‎(Cyrillic spelling дѐсерт)

  1. dessert

Declension

References

  • “desert” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Etymology

Middle English from the Old French deserte, from deservir ‎(“to deserve”). This in turn is from the Vulgar Latin deservire ‎(“to gain or merit by giving service”)

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