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noun
Idiom1.
Usually, deserts. reward or punishment that is deserved: Death was his desert. Synonyms: due, payment, recompense, reward; justice, retaliation, retribution, penalty.
2.
the state or fact of deserving reward or punishment.
3.
the state or condition of being worthy, as in character or behavior. Synonyms: merit, virtue, worth.
4.
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?
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Just deserts
is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English < Old French deserte, noun use of feminine past participle of deservir to deserve
1275–1325; Middle English < Old French deserte, noun use of feminine past participle of deservir to deserve
Synonyms
3. Desert, merit, worth refer to the quality in a person, action, or thing that entitles recognition, especially favorable recognition. Desert is the quality that entitles one to a just reward: according to her deserts. Merit is usually the excellence that entitles to praise: a person of great merit. Worth is always used in a favorable sense and signifies inherent value or goodness: The worth of your contribution is incalculable.
3. Desert, merit, worth refer to the quality in a person, action, or thing that entitles recognition, especially favorable recognition. Desert is the quality that entitles one to a just reward: according to her deserts. Merit is usually the excellence that entitles to praise: a person of great merit. Worth is always used in a favorable sense and signifies inherent value or goodness: The worth of your contribution is incalculable.
Citations
“The words of the Divina Commedia are still the mightiest and most living words in which man has ever painted in detail the true deserts of sin, penitence, and sanctity.”
—Rev. John C. Eccleston, from his lectures on Dante Alighieri, The Churchman, vol. 53 (January 2, 1886)
—Rev. John C. Eccleston, from his lectures on Dante Alighieri, The Churchman, vol. 53 (January 2, 1886)
“I have no sympathy with those who invested their money in slave property. They not only received their just deserts in having their property confiscated, but they should have been compelled to make restitution to the last penny to the poor slaves whom they had systematically robbed.”
—Timothy Thomas Fortune, Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South (1884)
—Timothy Thomas Fortune, Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South (1884)
“Some will always mistake the degree of their own desert.”
—Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 193 (January 21, 1752)
—Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 193 (January 21, 1752)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Link To Just deserts
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
just deserts
A deserved punishment or reward, as in He got his just deserts when Mary jilted him. This idiom employs desert in the sense of "what one deserves," a usage dating from the 1300s but obsolete except in this expression.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
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