deserts
noun /dɪˈzɜːts/
/dɪˈzɜːrts/
Word OriginMiddle English: via Old French desert, from deservir ‘serve well’, from Latin deservire ‘serve well or zealously’.
[plural]Idioms Idioms
somebody’s (just) deserts
- what somebody deserves, especially when it is something bad
- The family of the victim said that the killer had got his just deserts when he was jailed for life.