Desert (d&euptack_;z&etilde_;rt), n. [OF. deserte, desserte, merit, recompense, fr. deservir, desservir, to merit. See Deserve.] That which is deserved; the reward or the punishment justly due; claim to recompense, usually in a good sense; right to reward; merit.
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According to their deserts will I judge them. Ezek. vii. 27.
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Andronicus, surnamed Pius
For many good and great deserts to Rome. Shak.
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His reputation falls far below his desert. A. Hamilton.

Syn. -- Merit; worth; excellence; due.
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Desert, a. [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere, and F. désert. See 2d Desert.] Of or pertaining to a desert; forsaken; without life or cultivation; unproductive; waste; barren; wild; desolate; solitary; as, they landed on a desert island.
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He . . . went aside privately into a desert place. Luke ix. 10.
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Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Gray.
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Desert flora (Bot.), the assemblage of plants growing naturally in a desert, or in a dry and apparently unproductive place. -- Desert hare (Zoöl.), a small hare (Lepus sylvaticus, var. Arizonæ) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States. -- Desert mouse (Zoöl.), an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the Western deserts.
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Desert, v. i. To abandon a service without leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond.
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The soldiers . . . deserted in numbers. Bancroft.

Syn. -- To abandon; forsake; leave; relinquish; renounce; quit; depart from; abdicate. See Abandon.
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