Description noun [ French description , Latin descriptio . See Describe .]
1. The act of describing; a delineation by marks or signs.

2. A sketch or account of anything in words; a portraiture or representation in language; an enumeration of the essential qualities of a thing or species.

Milton has descriptions of morning.

D. Webster.

3. A class to which a certain representation is applicable; kind; sort.

A difference . . . between them and another description of public creditors.

A. Hamilton.

The plates were all of the meanest description .

Macaulay.

Syn. -- Account; definition; recital; relation; detail; narrative; narration; explanation; delineation; representation; kind; sort. See Definition .

Descriptive adjective [ Latin descriptivus : confer French descriptif .] Tending to describe; having the quality of representing; containing description; as, a descriptive figure; a descriptive phrase; a descriptive narration; a story descriptive of the age.

Descriptive anatomy , that part of anatomy which treats of the forms and relations of parts, but not of their textures. -- Descriptive geometry , that branch of geometry. which treats of the graphic solution of problems involving three dimensions, by means of projections upon auxiliary planes. Davies & Peck (Math. Dict. )

-- De*scrip"tive*ly , adverb -- De*scrip"tive*ness , noun

Descrive transitive verb [ Old French descrivre . See Describe .] To describe. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Descry transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Descried ; present participle & verbal noun Descrying .] [ Middle English descrien , discrien , to espy, probably from the proclaiming of what was espied, from Old French descrier to proclaim, cry down, decry, French décrier . The word was confused somewhat with Old French descriven , English describe , Old French descrivre , from Latin describere . See Decry .]
1. To spy out or discover by the eye, as objects distant or obscure; to espy; to recognize; to discern; to discover.

And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel.

Judg. i. 23.

Edmund, I think, is gone . . . to descry
The strength o' the enemy.

Shak.

And now their way to earth they had descried .

Milton.

2. To discover; to disclose; to reveal. [ R.]

His purple robe he had thrown aside, lest it should descry him.

Milton.

Syn. -- To see; behold; espy; discover; discern.

Descry noun Discovery or view, as of an army seen at a distance. [ Obsolete]

Near, and on speedy foot; the main descry
Stands on the hourly thought.

Shak.

Desecate transitive verb [ Latin desecare to cut off.] To cut, as with a scythe; to mow. [ Obsolete]

Desecrate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Desecrated ; present participle & verbal noun Desecrating .] [ Latin desecratus , past participle of desecrare (also desacrare ) to consecrate, dedicate; but taken in the sense if to divest of a sacred character; de- + sacrare to consecrate, from 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.

Desecrater noun One who desecrates; a profaner. Harper's Mag.

Desecration noun The act of desecrating; profanation; condition of anything desecrated.

Desecrator noun One who desecrates. " Desecrators of the church." Morley.

Desegmentation noun (Anat.) The loss or obliteration of division into segments; as, a desegmentation of the body.

Desert (de*zẽrt") noun [ Old French deserte , desserte , merit, recompense, from 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.

Desert (dĕz"ẽrt) noun [ French désert , Latin 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.

Desert adjective [ Confer Latin desertus , past participle of deserere , and French 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 (Botany) , the assemblage of plants growing naturally in a desert, or in a dry and apparently unproductive place. -- Desert hare (Zoology) , a small hare ( Lepus sylvaticus , var. Arizonæ ) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States. -- Desert mouse (Zoology) , an American mouse ( Hesperomys eremicus ), living in the Western deserts.

Desert (de*zẽrt") transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Deserted ; present participle & verbal noun Deserting .] [ Confer Latin desertus , past participle of deserere to desert, French 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.

Desert intransitive verb 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 .

Deserter (de*zẽrt"ẽr) , noun 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.

Desertful adjective Meritorious. [ R.] Beau. & Fl.

Desertion (de*zẽr"shŭn) noun [ Latin desertio : confer French 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.

2. The state of being forsaken; desolation; as, the king in his desertion .

3. Abandonment by God; spiritual despondency.

The spiritual agonies of a soul under desertion .

South.

Desertless adjective Without desert. [ R.]

Desertlessly adverb Undeservedly. [ R.] Beau. & Fl.

Desertness noun A deserted condition. [ R.] "The desertness of the country." Udall.

Desertrix, Desertrice noun [ Latin desertrix .] A feminine deserter. Milton.

Deserve (de*zẽrv") transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Deserved ; present participle & verbal noun Deserving .] [ Old French deservir , desservir , to merit, Latin deservire to serve zealously, be devoted to; de- + servire to serve. See Serve .]
1. To earn by service; to be worthy of (something due, either good or evil); to merit; to be entitled to; as, the laborer deserves his wages; a work of value deserves praise.

God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth .

Job xi. 6.

John Gay deserved to be a favorite.

Thackeray.

Encouragement is not held out to things that deserve reprehension.

Burke.

2. To serve; to treat; to benefit. [ Obsolete]

A man that hath
So well deserved me.

Massinger.

Deserve (de*zẽrv") intransitive verb To be worthy of recompense; -- usually with ill or with well .

One man may merit or deserve of another.

South.

Deservedly (-zẽrv"ĕd*l> ycr/) adverb According to desert (whether good or evil); justly.

Deservedness noun Meritoriousness.

Deserver noun One who deserves.

Deserving noun Desert; merit.

A person of great deservings from the republic.

Swift.

Deserving adjective Meritorious; worthy; as, a deserving person or act. -- De*serv"ing*ly , adverb

Deshabille noun [ French déshabillé , from déshabiller to undress; prefix dés- (L. dis- ) + habiller to dress. See Habiliment , and confer Dishabille .] An undress; a careless toilet.

Desiccant adjective [ Latin desiccans , present participle of desiccare . See Desiccate .] Drying; desiccative. -- noun (Medicine) A medicine or application for drying up a sore. Wiseman.

Desiccate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Desiccated ; present participle & verbal noun Desiccating .] [ Latin desiccatus , past participle of desiccare to dry up; de- + siccare to dry, siccus dry. See Sack wine.] To dry up; to deprive or exhaust of moisture; to preserve by drying; as, to desiccate fish or fruit.

Bodies desiccated by heat or age.

Bacon.

Desiccate intransitive verb To become dry.

Desiccation noun [ Confer French dessiccation .] The act of desiccating, or the state of being desiccated.

Desiccative adjective [ Confer French dessicatif .] Drying; tending to dry. Ferrand. -- noun (Medicine) An application for drying up secretions.

Desiccator noun
1. One who, or that which, desiccates.

2. (Chemistry) A short glass jar fitted with an air-tight cover, and containing some desiccating agent, as sulphuric acid or calcium chloride, above which is suspended the material to be dried, or preserved from moisture.

Desiccator noun One that desiccates ; specif.: (a) (Chem., etc.) A short glass jar fitted with an air-tight cover, and containing some desiccating agent, as calcium chloride, above which is placed the material to be dried or preserved from moisture. (b) A machine or apparatus for drying fruit, milk, etc., usually by the aid of heat; an evaporator.

Desiccatory adjective Desiccative.

Desiderable adjective Desirable. [ R.] "Good and desiderable things." Holland.

Desiderata noun plural See Desideratum .

Desiderate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Desiderated ; present participle & verbal noun Desiderating .] [ Latin desideratus , past participle of desiderare to desire, miss. See Desire , and confer Desideratum .] To desire; to feel the want of; to lack; to miss; to want.

Pray have the goodness to point out one word missing that ought to have been there -- please to insert a desiderated stanza. You can not.

Prof. Wilson.

Men were beginning . . . to desiderate for them an actual abode of fire.

A. W. Ward.

Desideration noun [ Latin desideratio .] Act of desiderating; also, the thing desired. [ R.] Jeffrey.

Desiderative adjective [ Latin desiderativus .] Denoting desire; as, desiderative verbs.

Desiderative noun
1. An object of desire.

2. (Gram.) A verb formed from another verb by a change of termination, and expressing the desire of doing that which is indicated by the primitive verb.

Desideratum noun ; plural Desiderata . [ Latin , from desideratus , past participle See Desiderate .] Anything desired; that of which the lack is felt; a want generally felt and acknowledge.

Desidiose, Desidious adjective [ Latin desidiosus , from desidia a sitting idle, from desid...re to sit idle; de- + sed...re to sit.] Idle; lazy. [ Obsolete]

Desidiousness noun The state or quality of being desidiose, or indolent. [ Obsolete] N. Bacon.

Desight noun [ Prefix de- + sight .] An unsightly object. [ Obsolete]

Desightment noun The act of making unsightly; disfigurement. [ R.]

To substitute jury masts at whatever desightment or damage in risk.

London Times.