desert









desert


noun

  1. a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all: The Sahara is a vast sandy desert.
  2. any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil.
  3. an area of the ocean in which it is believed no marine life exists.
  4. (formerly) any unsettled area between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains thought to be unsuitable for human habitation.
  5. any place lacking in something: The town was a cultural desert.

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or like a desert.
  2. occurring, living, or flourishing in the desert: a desert tribe; a desert palm.
  3. designed or suitable for wear in the desert, as cool, protective clothing: a big, wide-brimmed desert hat.

verb (used with object)

  1. to leave (a person, place, etc.) without intending to return, especially in violation of a duty, promise, or the like: He deserted his wife.
  2. (of military personnel) to leave or run away from (service, duty, etc.) with the intention of never returning: Terrified of the approaching battle, he deserted his post just before dawn.
  3. to fail (someone) at a time of need: None of his friends had deserted him.

verb (used without object)

  1. to forsake or leave one’s duty, obligations, etc. (sometimes followed by from, to, etc.): Many deserted during the food shortage.
  2. (of military personnel) to leave service, duty, etc., with no intention of returning: Troops were deserting to the enemy.

noun

  1. Usually deserts. reward or punishment that is deserved: Death was his desert.
  2. the state or fact of deserving reward or punishment.
  3. the state or condition of being worthy, as in character or behavior.
Idioms

  1. get/receive/etc. one’s (just) deserts, to be punished or rewarded in a manner appropriate to one’s actions or behavior: Some people felt he had gotten his just deserts, having been imprisoned and relieved of his ill-gotten gains, but others would have preferred old-style public flogging, followed by drawing and quartering, and who can blame them?

noun

  1. a region that is devoid or almost devoid of vegetation, esp because of low rainfall
  2. an uncultivated uninhabited region
  3. a place which lacks some desirable feature or qualitya cultural desert
  4. (modifier) of, relating to, or like a desert; infertile or desolate

verb

  1. (tr) to leave or abandon (a person, place, etc) without intending to return, esp in violation of a duty, promise, or obligation
  2. military to abscond from (a post or duty) with no intention of returning
  3. (tr) to fail (someone) in time of needhis good humour temporarily deserted him
  4. (tr) Scots law to give up or postpone (a case or charge)

noun

  1. (often plural) something that is deserved or merited; just reward or punishment
  2. the state of deserving a reward or punishment
  3. virtue or merit
v.

“to leave one’s duty,” late 14c., from Old French deserter (12c.) “leave,” literally “undo or sever connection,” from Late Latin desertare, frequentative of Latin deserere “to abandon, to leave, forsake, give up, leave in the lurch,” from de- “undo” (see de-) + serere “join together, put in a row” (see series). Military sense is first recorded 1640s. Related: Deserted; deserting.

n.1

“wasteland,” early 13c., from Old French desert (12c.) “desert, wilderness, wasteland; destruction, ruin,” from Late Latin desertum (source of Italian diserto, Old Provençal dezert, Spanish desierto), literally “thing abandoned” (used in Vulgate to translate “wilderness”), noun use of neuter past participle of Latin deserere “forsake” (see desert (v.)).

Sense of “waterless, treeless region” was in Middle English and gradually became the main meaning. Commonly spelled desart in 18c., which is not etymological but at least avoids confusion with the other two senses of the word. Classical Latin indicated this idea with deserta, plural of desertus.

n.2

“suitable reward or punishment” (now usually plural and with just), c.1300, from Old French deserte, noun use of past participle of deservir “be worthy to have,” ultimately from Latin deservire “serve well” (see deserve).

  1. A large, dry, barren region, usually having sandy or rocky soil and little or no vegetation. Water lost to evaporation and transpiration in a desert exceeds the amount of precipitation; most deserts average less than 25 cm (9.75 inches) of precipitation each year, concentrated in short local bursts. Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth’s surface, with the principal warm deserts located mainly along the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where warm, rising equatorial air masses that have already lost most of their moisture descend over the subtropical regions. Cool deserts are located at higher elevations in the temperate regions, often on the lee side of a barrier mountain range where the prevailing winds drop their moisture before crossing the range.

In addition to the idiom beginning with desert

  • desert a sinking ship

also see:

  • just deserts
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