desert Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun arid land with little or no vegetation
  2. verb leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
    abandon; desolate; forsake.
    • The mother deserted her children
  3. verb desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army
    defect.
    • If soldiers deserted Hitler's army, they were shot
  4. verb leave behind
    • the students deserted the campus after the end of exam period

WordNet

De*sert" noun
Etymology
OF. deserte, desserte, merit, recompense, fr. deservir, desservir, to merit. See Deserve.
Definitions
  1. 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 noun
Etymology
F. désert, L. desertum, from desertus solitary, desert, pp. of deserere to desert; de- + serere to join together. See Series.
Definitions
  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.
    Also figuratively.
    Before her extended Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life. Longfellow.
Des"ert adjective
Etymology
Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere, and F. désert. See 2d Desert.
Definitions
  1. 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.
De*sert" transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere to desert, F. déserter. See 2d Desert.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Deserted; present participle & verbal noun Deserting
Definitions
  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" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. 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.

Webster 1913