WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : De*sert"
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [OF. deserte, desserte, merit, recompense, fr. deservir, desservir, to merit. See Deserve.]
Definition : Defn: 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Des"ert
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [F. d?sert, L. desertum, from desertus solitary, desert, pp. of deserere to desert; de- + serere to join together. See Series.]
Definition : 1. A deserted or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population, as the vast sand plains of Asia and Africa are destitute 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.

Note: Also figuratively. Before her extended Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life. Longfellow.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Des"ert
Part of Speech : a.
Etymology : [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere, and F. d?sert. See 2d Desert.]
Definition : Defn: 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 (Zo?l.), a small hare (Lepus sylvaticus, var. Arizon?) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States. -- Desert mouse (Zo?l.), an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the Western deserts.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : De*sert"
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere to desert, F. d?serter. See 2d Desert.]
Definition : 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.)

Defn: 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Deserted; p. pr. & vb. n. Deserting.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : De*sert"
Part of Speech : v.
Definition : Defn: 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.

i.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913