desert
English
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Etymology 1
From Middle English desert, deseert, from Old French deserte, from deservir (“to deserve”). This in turn is from the Vulgar Latin deservire (“to gain or merit by giving service”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /dɪˈzɜː(ɹ)t/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /dɪˈzəɹt/, /dəˈzəɹt/
- Homophone: dessert
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t
Noun
desert (plural deserts)
- (usually in the plural) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward
- 1600, John Dowland, Flow My Tears
- 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.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 17:
- Who will believe my verse in time to come,
- If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21
- "Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not hear it of you. And I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!"
- (Can we date this quote by A. Hamilton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- His reputation falls far below his desert.
- 1971 John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
- "It is true that certain common sense precepts of justice, particularly those which concern the protection of liberties and rights, or which express the claims of desert, seem to contradict this contention."
- 1600, John Dowland, Flow My Tears
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2
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Borrowed from French désert or Old French desert, from Latin dēsertum, past participle of dēserō (“to abandon”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈdɛzə(ɹ)t/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: dĕ'zə(r)t, IPA(key): /ˈdɛzɚt/
Audio (US), noun: (file)
Noun
desert (countable and uncountable, plural deserts)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Gusev_Spirit_01.jpg/220px-Gusev_Spirit_01.jpg)
- A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
- (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, / A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.
- 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
- 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.
- (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (figuratively) Any barren place or situation.
- 1858, William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria (page 54)
- 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.
- 2006, Philip N. Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and Pitfalls (page 34)
- 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?
- 1858, William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria (page 54)
Related terms
Translations
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Adjective
desert (not comparable)
- Usually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.
- They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.
- Bible, Luke ix. 10
- He […] went aside privately into a desert place.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Eighth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 441, lines 252–255:
- 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!
- 1750, Thomas Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", Stanza 14:
- Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 3
Borrowed from French déserter, from Late Latin desertare, from Latin desertus, from desero (“abandon”).
Pronunciation
Verb
desert (third-person singular simple present deserts, present participle deserting, simple past and past participle deserted)
- 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.
- To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.
- Anyone found deserting will be punished.
Derived terms
Translations
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Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
First attested 14th century[1]. From Latin dēsertum, possibly a semi-learned term.
Noun
desert m (plural deserts)
- desert (desolate terrain)
References
Friulian
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Latin dēsertum (in this form possibly a semi-learned term; cf. the variant form).
Noun
desert m (plural deserts)
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French desert.
Noun
desert m (plural desers)
- desert (desolate terrain)
Descendants
- French: désert
Old French
Etymology
Probably borrowed from Latin dēsertum.
Noun
desert oblique singular, m (oblique plural deserz or desertz, nominative singular deserz or desertz, nominative plural desert)
- desert (desolate terrain)
Descendants
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
dèsert m (Cyrillic spelling дѐсерт)
Declension
Antonyms
References
- “desert” in Hrvatski jezični portal
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)t
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Requests for date/A. Hamilton
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms borrowed from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms with audio links
- English uncountable nouns
- Requests for date/Alexander Pope
- English terms with quotations
- Hakka terms with redundant script codes
- Eastern Min terms with redundant script codes
- Min Nan terms with redundant script codes
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English verbs
- English heteronyms
- en:Deserts
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan countable nouns
- Catalan masculine nouns
- Friulian terms derived from Latin
- Friulian lemmas
- Friulian nouns
- Friulian masculine nouns
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French masculine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Old French terms borrowed from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns
- Serbo-Croatian terms borrowed from French
- Serbo-Croatian terms derived from French
- Serbo-Croatian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Serbo-Croatian lemmas
- Serbo-Croatian nouns
- Serbo-Croatian masculine nouns