Desert /(dē̇*zẽrt")/

De·sert

Desert

n.
  1. 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.
    His reputation falls far below his desert.
    — A. Hamilton.

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.
    — Is. li. 3.
    Before her extended Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life.

Desert

a.
  1. 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.

Phrases & Compounds
Desert flora
the assemblage of plants growing naturally in a desert, or in a dry and apparently unproductive place.
Desert hare
a small hare (Lepus sylvaticus, var. Arizonæ) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States.
Desert mouse
an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the Western deserts.

Desert

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Deserted; p. pr. & vb. n. 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.
  2. 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. (Mil.)

Desert

v. i.
  1. 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.