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.