desert

noun

1. 1

   A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.

   And ye poore Pilgrimes, that vvith reſtleſſe toyle VVearie your ſelues in vvandring deſert vvayes […]

   Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.

2. 2

   A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland. In particular, a barren, arid area of land which is hot, with sandy, rocky, or parched ground.

   It is wholly out of the power of language to convey any idea of the blissful enjoyment of obtaining water, after an almost total want of it, during eight and forty hours, in the scorching regions of an Arabian desert, in the month of July.

   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.

3. 3

   figurativeAny barren place or situation.

   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.

   By contrast, the WR route is an economic desert between Newbury and Taunton.

   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?

adjective

1. 1

   Usually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.

   They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.

   And he said vnto them, Come yee your selues apart into a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many comming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eate.

   He […] went aside privately into a desert place.

   See, from afar, yon Rock that mates the Sky, / About whoſe Feet ſuch Heaps of Rubbiſh lye: / Such indigeſted Ruin; bleak and bare, / How deſart now it ſtands, expos'd in Air!

verb

1. 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. 2

   To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.

   Anyone found deserting will be punished.

noun

1. 1

   That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward.

   just deserts

   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.

   Who will believe my verse in time to come, If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?

   July 4, 1789, Alexander Hamilton, Eulogium on Major-General Greene His reputation falls far below his desert.

noun

1. 1

   Variant of dessertobsoleteObsolete form of dessert.

   Francis, besides being an excellent Cook, knowing how to provide genteel Dinners, and giving aid in dressing them, prepared the Desert, made the Cake, and did every thing that Hyde & wife conjointly do;—[…]

   The deserts are far more superb; the painter, the florist, the decorator, and even the sculptor being engaged to complete them. Formerly a desert at a splendid fete in a private house has cost a thousand pounds, exclusive of plate and glass.

Forms

plural

deserts

past tense

deserted

past participle

deserted

present participle

deserting

third person singular

deserts