Etymology From Middle English desert (“wilderness”), from Old French desert, from Latin dēsertum, past participle of dēserō (“to abandon”). Generally displaced native Old English wēsten. False cognate of Egyptian dšrt.
1
A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
And ye poore Pilgrimes, that vvith reſtleſſe toyle VVearie your ſelues in vvandring deſert vvayes […]1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], Daphnaïda. An Elegy upon the Death of the Noble and Vertuous Douglas Howard,Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthure Gorges Esquier. […], London: […] [Thomas Orwin] for William Ponsonby, […], →OCLC, signature [C4], recto:
Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
2
In particular, a barren, arid area of land which is hot, with sandy, rocky, or parched ground.
It is wholly out of the power of language to convey any idea of the blissful enjoyment of obtaining water, after an almost total want of it, during eight and forty hours, in the scorching regions of an Arabian desert, in the month of July.1805 December, Julius Griffiths, “A Journey across the Desert”, in The Monthly Mirror, page 362:
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.1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
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.1858, William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria, page 54:
By contrast, the WR route is an economic desert between Newbury and Taunton.1964 March, “News and Comment: Which way to the West?”, in Modern Railways, page 147:
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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?2006, Philip N. Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and Pitfalls, page 34:
Etymology From Middle English desert (“wilderness”), from Old French desert, from Latin dēsertum, past participle of dēserō (“to abandon”). Generally displaced native Old English wēsten. False cognate of Egyptian dšrt.
1
Usually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.
They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.
And he said vnto them, Come yee your selues apart into a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many comming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eate.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark vi:31:
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He […] went aside privately into a desert place.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke ix:10:
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!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:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.1750, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 14:
desert
verb
UK /dɪˈzɜːt/ · US /dɪˈzɝt/
Etymology Borrowed from French déserter, from Late Latin dēsertō, from Latin dēsertus, from dēserō (“abandon”).
1
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.
2
To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.
Etymology From Middle English desert, deseert, from Old French deserte, from deservir (“to deserve”), from Vulgar Latin dēserviō (“to gain or merit by giving service”).
1
In plural, Often That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward.
Now chiefly technical (in philosophy) or fossil
just deserts
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.1600, John Dowland, Flow My Tears:
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Who will believe my verse in time to come, If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 17”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
July 4, 1789, Alexander Hamilton, Eulogium on Major-General Greene His reputation falls far below his desert.
"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!"1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
"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."1971, John Rawls, A Theory of Justice: