Near, and on speedy foot; the main descry
Stands on the hourly thought.
Shak.
Des"e*cate (?), v. t. [L. desecare to cut off.] To cut, as with a scythe; to mow. [Obs.]
Des"e*crate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Desecrated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Desecrating (?).] [L. desecratus, p. p. of desecrare (also desacrare) to consecrate, dedicate; but taken in the sense if to divest of a sacred character; de- + sacrare to consecrate, fr. sacer sacred. See Sacred.] To divest of a sacred character or office; to divert from a sacred purpose; to violate the sanctity of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; -- the opposite of consecrate.
The [Russian] clergy can not suffer corporal punishment without being previously desecrated.
W. Tooke.
The founders of monasteries imprecated evil on those who should desecrate their donations.
Salmon.
Des"e*cra`ter (?), n. One who desecrates; a profaner. Harper's Mag.
Des`e*cra"tion (?), n. The act of desecrating; profanation; condition of anything desecrated.
Des"e*cra`tor (?), n. One who desecrates. "Desecrators of the church." Morley.
De*seg`men*ta"tion (?), n. (Anat.) The loss or obliteration of division into segments; as, a desegmentation of the body.
De*sert" (d*zrt"), 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.
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 (dz"rt), n. [F. désert, L. desertum, from desertus solitary, desert, pp. of deserere to desert; de- + serere to join together. See Series.] 1. A deserted or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population, as the vast sand plains of Asia and Africa which are destitute of moisture 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, 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.
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.
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.
De*sert" (d*zrt"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deserted; p. pr. & vb. n. Deserting.] [Cf. L. desertus, p. p. of deserere to desert, F. déserter. See 2d Desert.] 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", v. i. 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.
De*sert"er (d*zrt"r), n. One who forsakes a duty, a cause or a party, a friend, or any one to whom he owes service; especially, a soldier or a seaman who abandons the service without leave; one guilty of desertion.
De*sert"ful (?), a. Meritorious. [R.] Beau. & Fl.
De*ser"tion (d*zr"shn), n. [L. desertio: cf. F. désertion.] 1. The act of deserting or forsaking; abandonment of a service, a cause, a party, a friend, or any post of duty; the quitting of one's duties willfully and without right; esp., an absconding from military or naval service.
Such a resignation would have seemed to his superior a desertion or a reproach.
Bancroft.