desert
/dɪˈzɝt/ noun C2- That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward. · just deserts· July 4, 1789, Alexander Hamilton, Eulogium on Major-General Greene His reputation falls far below his desert.
Plural deserts
From the library
This child of the desert was in his element, and with his black face and sparkling eyes appeared, in the cloud of dust he raised, like the genius of the simoom and the god of the hurricane.
“Never mind, Renée,” replied the marquise, with a look of tenderness that seemed out of keeping with her harsh dry features; but, however all other feelings may be withered in a woman’s nature, there is always one bright smiling spot in the desert of her heart, and that is the shrine of maternal love.
“At the East, not far from here,” said one, “there is a great desert, and none could live to cross it.”
“The North is my home,” said the old lady, “and at its edge is the same great desert that surrounds this Land of Oz.
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