[dez-ert] 
| 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. |
| 6. | of, pertaining to, or like a desert; desolate; barren. |
| 7. | occurring, living, or flourishing in the desert: a desert tribe; a desert palm. |
| 8. | designed or suitable for wear in the desert, as cool, protective clothing: a big, wide-brimmed desert hat. |
[di-zur-tik] , adjective [di-zurt] | 1. | to leave (a person, place, etc.) without intending to return, esp. 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. |
| 3. | to fail (someone) at a time of need: None of his friends had deserted him. |
| 4. | to forsake or leave one's duty, obligations, etc. (sometimes fol. by from, to, etc.): Many deserted during the food shortage. |
| 5. | (of military personnel) to leave service, duty, etc., with no intention of returning: Troops were deserting to the enemy. |
[di-zurt] | 1. | Often, deserts. reward or punishment that is deserved: to get one's just deserts. |
| 2. | the state or fact of deserving reward or punishment. |
| 3. | the fact of deserving well; merit; virtue. |
| des·ert 1 (děz'ərt) n.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin dēsertum, from neuter past participle of dēserere, to desert; see desert3.] |
| de·sert 2 (dĭ-zûrt') n.
[Middle English, from Old French deserte, from feminine past participle of deservir, to deserve; see deserve.] Word History: When Shakespeare says in Sonnet 72, "Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,/To do more for me than mine own desert," he is using the word desert in the sense of "worthiness; deserving," a word perhaps most familiar to us in the plural, meaning "something that is deserved," as in the phrase just deserts. This word goes back to the Latin word dēservīre, "to devote oneself to the service of," which in Vulgar Latin came to mean "to merit by service." Dēservīre is made up of dē-, meaning "thoroughly," and servīre, "to serve." Knowing this, we can distinguish this desert from desert, "a wasteland," and desert, "to abandon," both of which go back to Latin dēserere, "to forsake, leave uninhabited," which is made up of dē-, expressing the notion of undoing, and the verb serere, "to link together." We can also distinguish all three deserts from dessert, "a sweet course at the end of a meal," which is from the French word desservir, "to clear the table." Desservir is made up of des-, expressing the notion of reversal, and servir (from Latin servīre), "to serve," hence, "to unserve" or "to clear the table." |
| de·sert 3 (dĭ-zûrt') v. de·sert·ed, de·sert·ing, de·serts v. tr.
To forsake one's duty or post, especially to be absent without leave from the armed forces with no intention of returning. [French déserter, from Late Latin dēsertāre, frequentative of Latin dēserere, to abandon : dē-, de- + serere, to join; see ser-2 in Indo-European roots.] de·sert'er n. |
Desert
(1.) Heb. midbar, "pasture-ground;" an open tract for pasturage; a common (Joel 2:22). The "backside of the desert" (Ex. 3:1) is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the region in front. The same Hebrew word is rendered "wildernes," and is used of the country lying between Egypt and Palestine (Gen. 21:14, 21; Ex. 4:27; 19:2; Josh. 1:4), the wilderness of the wanderings. It was a grazing tract, where the flocks and herds of the Israelites found pasturage during the whole of their journey to the Promised Land. The same Hebrew word is used also to denote the wilderness of Arabia, which in winter and early spring supplies good pasturage to the flocks of the nomad tribes than roam over it (1 Kings 9:18). The wilderness of Judah is the mountainous region along the western shore of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father's flocks (1 Sam. 17:28; 26:2). Thus in both of these instances the word denotes a country without settled inhabitants and without streams of water, but having good pasturage for cattle; a country of wandering tribes, as distinguished from that of a settled people (Isa. 35:1; 50:2; Jer. 4:11). Such, also, is the meaning of the word "wilderness" in Matt. 3:3; 15:33; Luke 15:4. (2.) The translation of the Hebrew _Aribah'_, "an arid tract" (Isa. 35:1, 6; 40:3; 41:19; 51:3, etc.). The name Arabah is specially applied to the deep valley of the Jordan (the Ghor of the Arabs), which extends from the lake of Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf. While _midbar_ denotes properly a pastoral region, _arabah_ denotes a wilderness. It is also translated "plains;" as "the plains of Jericho" (Josh. 5:10; 2 Kings 25:5), "the plains of Moab" (Num. 22:1; Deut. 34:1, 8), "the plains of the wilderness" (2 Sam. 17:16). (3.) In the Revised Version of Num. 21:20 the Hebrew word _jeshimon_ is properly rendered "desert," meaning the waste tracts on both shores of the Dead Sea. This word is also rendered "desert" in Ps. 78:40; 106:14; Isa. 43:19, 20. It denotes a greater extent of uncultivated country than the other words so rendered. It is especially applied to the desert of the peninsula of Arabia (Num. 21:20; 23:28), the most terrible of all the deserts with which the Israelites were acquainted. It is called "the desert" in Ex. 23:31; Deut. 11:24. (See JESHIMON.) (4.) A dry place; hence a desolation (Ps. 9:6), desolate (Lev. 26:34); the rendering of the Hebrew word _horbah'_. It is rendered "desert" only in Ps. 102:6, Isa. 48:21, and Ezek. 13:4, where it means the wilderness of Sinai. (5.) This word is the symbol of the Jewish church when they had forsaken God (Isa. 40:3). Nations destitute of the knowledge of God are called a "wilderness" (32:15, _midbar_). It is a symbol of temptation, solitude, and persecution (Isa. 27:10, _midbar_; 33:9, _arabah_).