De*sert" (d&esl;*z&etilde;rt"), 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 (d&ebreve;z"&etilde;rt), n. [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, a. [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
(Zoöl.), a small hare (Lepus sylvaticus, var.
Arizonæ) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United
States. -- Desert mouse (Zoöl.),
an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the
Western deserts.
De*sert" (d&esl;*z&etilde;rt"), v. 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", 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.
