desert2 (dezert)

[ A rare Example, where Desert in the Subject, and Reward in the Prince, strive which should be the greater. Baker , Chronicles, p. 124. In squandering wealth was his peculiar art: Nothing went unrewarded but desert . Dryden, Abs, and Achit., 1. 560. By what accident it matters not, nor upon what desert , but just then I had obtained a very considerable degree of public confidence. Burke, To a Noble Lord. Material good has its tax, and if it came without desert or sweat, it has no root in me, and the next wind will blow it away. Emerson, Compensation. 2. That which is deserved; reward or penalty merited. God of his grace graunte ech mane his deserte; But, for his love, a-mong your thought is alle As think vp-on my wofulle sorowe smerte. Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 65. Render to them their desert . Ps. xxviii. 4. Those that are able of body and mind he leaves to their deserts. Sir T. Browne , Religio Medicl, i. 18. Syn. 1. Desert, Merit, Worth. Desert expre es most and worth least of the thought or expectation of reward. None of them suggests an actual claim. He is a man of great worth or excellence; intellectual worth ; moral worth ; the merits of the piece are small; he is not likely to get his deserts. When I compare myself with other men, it seems as if I were more favored by the gods than they, beyond any deserts that I am conscious of. Thoreau, Walden, p. 143. A Roman soldier was allowed to plead the merit of his services for his dismi ion at such an age. Dryden , King Arthur, Ded. Old letters breathing of her worth . Tennyson, Mariana in the South. being deserted, uninhabited, or desolate. It is this metaphysical deserted ne and loneline of the great works of architecture and sculpture that deposits a certain weight upon the heart. H. James, Jr., Portraits of Places, p. 62. deserter (de-zer'ter), n. [ desert eur = Dan. Sw. desertör , dé serteur = Sp. Pg. desert or = It. desert ore, di sertore , desert or , a deserter, deserere , pp. desert us , desert: see desert1 , v.] A person who forsakes his cause, his duty, his party, or his friends; particularly, a soldier or seaman who absents himself from his position without leave, and without the intention of returning. A deserter, who came out of the citadel, says the garrison is brought to the utmost capacity. Tatler, No. 59. Thou, false guardian of a charge too good, Thou, mean deserter of thy brother's blood! Pope , Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady, 1. 30. desert-falcon (dez'ért-fa kn), n . One of several large true falcons inhabiting deserts and prairies of various parts of the world, sometimes grouped in a subgenus Gennæa . They are closely related to the peregrines, but share the dull grayish or brownish coloration which characterizes many birds of arid open regions. The well-known lanner of the old world and the prairie-falcon of western North America, Falco mexican us or F. polyagrus , are examples. desertful (de-zért fül), a. [ desert2 + -ful, 1.] Of great desert; meritorious; deserving. [Rare.] When any object of desertful pity Offers itself. Chapman, Revenge of Bu y d'Ambois, iv. 1. Therein He shows himself desertful of his happine . Ford, Lady's Trial, iv. 1. desertfullyt (dē-zert fül-i), adv . Deservedly. Upon this occasion, Aristotle (and very desert fully ) calleth the common-wealth of the Ma ilians oligarch i a and not aristo crate i a. Time's Storehouse , p. 58.