An uninhabited and uncultivated tract of country; a wilderness. now conceived as a desolate, barren region, waterless and treeless, and with but…

A bare space or place. Obsolete.

(see quot. 1733).

A tract of barren land; spec. applied in North America to: (a) elevated plains on which grow small trees and shrubs, but no timber, classed as oak-b…

Country dominated by mesquite trees; a thicket of mesquite trees.

Extensive tracts of severely eroded, uncultivable land characterized by uneven rocky terrain and sparse vegetation, spec. (frequently with capital…

Barren, infertile, or unproductive terrain; rough or stony ground. Cf. hardpan, n. 1.

A tract or area of arid, sandy country characteristic of northern Western Australia; the low, scrubby vegetation occurring in such areas. Also: any…

Army slang. in (also up) the blue: far away from base or the main body of troops; (spec. in the Second World War, 1939–45) far into the desert…

spec. a waterless or treeless region, a desert. (Not distinguishable from some examples at sense 1a).