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Webster 1913 Edition
Desertion
De-ser′tion
(dē̍-zẽr′shŭn)
, Noun.
[L.
desertio
: cf. F. désertion
.] 1.
The act of deserting or forsaking; abandonment of a service, a cause, a party, a friend, or any post of duty; the quitting of one’s duties willfully and without right; esp., an absconding from military or naval service.
Such a resignation would have seemed to his superior a
desertion
or a reproach. Bancroft.
2.
The state of being forsaken; desolation;
as, the king in his
. desertion
3.
Abandonment by God; spiritual despondency.
The spiritual agonies of a soul under
desertion
. South.
Webster 1828 Edition
Desertion
DESERTION
, n. 1. The act of forsaking or abandoning, as a party, a friend, a country, an army or military band, or a ship; the act of quitting, with an intention not to return.
2.
The state of being forsaken by God; spiritual despondency.The agonies of a soul under desertion.