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Quit vs Desert - What's the difference?

quit | desert |

As a verb quit

is .

As a noun desert is

desert.

As an adjective desert is

deserted.

quit

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) quiter, (etyl) quiter, from , ultimately from (etyl) quietus .

Verb

  • To pay (a debt, fine etc.).
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Enkindle all the sparks of nature / To quit this horrid act.
  • *(Edward Fairfax) (c.1580-1635)
  • *:that judge that quits each soul his hire
  • To repay (someone) for (something).
  • *:
  • *:I was but late att a Iustynge / and there I Iusted with a knyghte that is broder vnto kynge Pellam / and twyes smote I hym doune / & thenne he promysed to quyte me on my best frynde / and so he wounded my sone that can not be hole tyll I haue of that knyghtes blood
  • (obsolete) To repay, pay back (a good deed, injury etc.).
  • *1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.v:
  • *:Vnthankfull wretch (said he) is this the meed, / With which her soueraigne mercy thou doest quight ?
  • To conduct or acquit (oneself); to behave (in a specified way).
  • *
  • *:Be strong and quit' yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: ' quit yourselves like men, and fight.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Samson hath quit himself like Samson.
  • To carry through; to go through to the end.
  • *(Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)
  • *:Never worthy prince a day did quit / With greater hazard and with more renown.
  • (label) To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
  • *(William Wake) (1657-1737)
  • *:To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?
  • (label) To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, etc.; to absolve; to acquit.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:God will relent, and quit thee all his debt.
  • (label) To abandon, renounce (a thing).
  • (label) To leave (a place).
  • To resign from (a job, office, position, etc.).
  • :
  • To stop, give up (an activity) (usually + gerund or verbal noun).
  • :
  • To close (an application).
  • (quit)
  • Derived terms
    * quitter
    Usage notes
    * The past tense of quit'' is now ''quit'' for most speakers and writers; dictionaries usually allow ''quitted'' as an alternative, but it is rare or nonexistent in North America and Australia, and outnumbered by ''quit'' by about 16 to 1 in the British National Corpus. Quitted is more commonly used to mean "left". ''ie. She quitted her job.
    References
    Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage , Cambridge University Press, p. 453.

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of numerous species of small passerine birds native to tropical America.
  • Derived terms
    * bananaquit

    desert

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) from the (etyl) deserte, from

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (senseid)(usually in plural) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward
  • * 1600 , (John Dowland), (Flow My Tears)
  • From the highest spire of contentment / my fortune is thrown; / and fear and grief and pain for my deserts / are my hopes, since hope is gone.
  • * 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
  • "Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not hear it of you. And I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my deserts , and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!"
  • * A. Hamilton
  • His reputation falls far below his desert .
    Derived terms
    * just deserts

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, / A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
  • , chapter=5, title= The Lonely Pyramid , passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.}}
  • (label) Any barren place or situation.
  • * 1858 , William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria (page 54)
  • He declared that the country was an intellectual desert ; that he was famishing for spiritual aliment, and for discourse on matters beyond mere nuggets, prospectings, and the price of gold.
  • * 2006 , Philip N. Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and Pitfalls (page 34)
  • So the question that is commonly asked is, why put a media incubator in a media desert and have it managed by a civil servant?

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited; usually of a place.
  • They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.
  • * Bible, Luke ix. 10
  • He went aside privately into a desert place.
  • * Gray
  • Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
    Derived terms
    * desert boot * desert island * desert lynx * desert pavement * desert pea * desert rat * desert soil * desert varnish * desertification * food desert * preach in the desert

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To leave (anything that depends on one's presence to survive, exist, or succeed), especially when contrary to a promise or obligation; to abandon; to forsake.
  • You can't just drive off and desert me here, in the middle of nowhere.
  • To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.
  • Anyone found deserting will be shot.
    Derived terms
    * deserter * desertion * desert or leave a sinking ship

    Anagrams

    * * English heteronyms ----