<B>desk, </B>noun, adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a piece of furniture with a flat or sloping top on which to write or rest books for reading. A desk often has drawers. <DD><B> 2. </B>any similar piece of furniture, such as a lectern or pulpit. <DD><B> 3. </B>a stand for holding sheet music; musician's stand. <DD><B> 4. </B>a department of work at a certain location or at a desk. <BR> <I>Ex. the information desk of a library, the copy desk of a newspaper.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>for use on or at a desk. <BR> <I>Ex. a desk blotter, a desk calendar, a desk calculator.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>stationed at a desk in a certain capacity. <BR> <I>Ex. a desk sergeant. After husky ... bellhops took possession of the baggage, the desk clerk directed us to the Intourist office, off the lobby (Maclean's).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to station at or assign to work at a desk, especially as compared to more vigorous activity. <BR> <I>Ex. to desk a pilot.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deskbound">
<B>deskbound, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>confined to work at a desk. <BR> <I>Ex. a deskbound clerk, deskbound functionaries.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>more inclined to sit down than to be active. <BR> <I>Ex. a deskbound executive.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deskill">
<B>deskill, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to reduce (a job or operation) to simple parts requiring no skill, especially through automation and specialization. <BR> <I>Ex. Many crafts have in fact become deskilled (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deskless">
<B>deskless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without a desk. <BR> <I>Ex. a deskless room.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deskman">
<B>deskman, </B>noun. pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an editor assigned to the copy desk in a newspaper office. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who does deskwork. </DL>
<A NAME="deskmate">
<B>deskmate, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a student who shares a desk with another in a classroom. </DL>
<A NAME="deskstudy">
<B>desk study,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a study made without extensive field and laboratory investigation. </DL>
<A NAME="desktop">
<B>desktop, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>designed to be used or placed on top of a desk; tabletop. <BR> <I>Ex. a desktop computer.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having to do with or using a personal computer. <BR> <I>Ex. Desktop conferencing (you and I take a meeting over our computers ...) is a few years away (New York Magazine).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a stationary personal computer. <BR> <I>Ex. The differences between the computational power and storage capacity of desktops and laptops is rapidly disappearing (S. C. Miller).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desktoppublisher">
<B>desktop publisher,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> person who uses a small computer to produce typeset copy for printing and distribution. </DL>
<A NAME="desktoppublishing">
<B>desktop publishing,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> electronic typesetting and the design and creation of charts, tables, and other graphics, prepared on small computers for printing. </DL>
<A NAME="deskwork">
<B>deskwork, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> work done or to be done at a desk. <BR> <I>Ex. ... deskwork galore, throwing bits of vaguely worded papers from tray to tray (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desl">
<B>D. es L.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Doctor of Letters (French, <I>Docteur es Lettres</I>). </DL>
<A NAME="desma">
<B>desma, </B>noun, pl. <B>-mata.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an irregular spicule of a sponge. </DL>
<A NAME="desman">
<B>desman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-mans.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> either of two molelike, aquatic, insect-eating mammals of Russia and southwestern Europe. They secrete musk. </DL>
<A NAME="desmas">
<B>Desmas, </B>noun. <B>=Dismas.</B></DL>
<A NAME="desmid">
<B>desmid, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a large group of microscopic, single-celled, freshwater, green algae of widely varying form. The cell is typically divided into distinct halves by a constriction. </DL>
<A NAME="desmidian">
<B>desmidian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the desmids. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=desmid.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="desmogen">
<B>desmogen, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the embryonic tissue of plants. </DL>
<A NAME="desmoid">
<B>desmoid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>(Anatomy.) resembling a ligament. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Medicine.) interwoven in bundles; fibrous. <BR> <I>Ex. a desmoid tumor.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> (Medicine.) a desmoid tumor. </DL>
<A NAME="desmosine">
<B>desmosine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an amino acid that serves as a cross-link for molecules of elastin. <BR> <I>Ex. Desmosine [is] probably largely responsible for the elasticity and stability of elastin, the main protein of the aortic wall (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desmosome">
<B>desmosome, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an adhesive part of an epithelial cell by which it adheres to adjoining cells. <BR> <I>Ex. The epithelial cells ... are attached to one another at sites called desmosomes, each of which is somewhat like a spot weld (Scientific American)</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desocialization">
<B>desocialization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>removal from society or from a social environment. <BR> <I>Ex. Worse even than locked doors was the intimate desocialization and dehumanization of the patients (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the removal of the principles or practice of socialism from an industry, government, etc.. <BR> <I>Ex. If desocialization of steel isn't finished by then, a victorious Labor Party could more easily carry out its ... threat to reimpose state ownership on steel (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desocialize">
<B>desocialize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to subject to desocialization. <BR> <I>Ex. Darkness isolates and desocializes the citizen (Harper's).</I> noun <B>desocializer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="desoeuvrement">
<B>desoeuvrement, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) idleness; lack of occupation. <BR> <I>Ex. I have nothing to write you, and write ... from mere desoeuvrement (Longfellow).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desolate">
<B>desolate, </B>adjective, verb, <B>-lated,</B> <B>-lating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>not producing anything; laid waste; devastated; barren. <BR> <I>Ex. desolate land.</I> (SYN) ravaged. <DD><B> 2. </B>not lived in; deserted. <BR> <I>Ex. a desolate house.</I> (SYN) uninhabited. <DD><B> 3. </B>unhappy; forlorn; wretched. <BR> <I>Ex. The hungry child looked desolate. The unemployed, by and large, are not the desolate-looking or acting lot of the 1930's (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>left alone; solitary; lonely. <BR> <I>Ex. No one so utterly desolate, But some heart, though unknown, Responds unto his own (Longfellow).</I> (SYN) forsaken. <DD><B> 5. </B>dreary; dismal. <BR> <I>Ex. a desolate life.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make unfit to live in; lay waste. <BR> <I>Ex. The Vikings desolated the lands they attacked.</I> (SYN) devastate. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make unhappy or forlorn. <BR> <I>Ex. We are desolated to hear that you are going away.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to deprive of inhabitants. (SYN) depopulate. adv. <B>desolately.</B> noun <B>desolateness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="desolater">
<B>desolater, </B>noun. <B>=desolator.</B></DL>
<A NAME="desolation">
<B>desolation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of making desolate. <BR> <I>Ex. the desolation of the country by an invading army.</I> (SYN) devastation. <DD><B> 2. </B>a ruined, lonely, or deserted condition. <BR> <I>Ex. After the fire the forest land was in complete desolation. He described the utter desolation of the American Indians. Yon dreary plain ... the seat of desolation (Milton).</I> (SYN) ruin, barrenness. <DD><B> 3. </B>a desolate place. <BR> <I>Ex. The old prospector lived in the desolation of the California hills.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>sadness; lonely sorrow. <BR> <I>Ex. desolation at the loss of loved ones.</I> (SYN) grief. </DL>
<A NAME="desolator">
<B>desolator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or thing that desolates. </DL>
<A NAME="desorb">
<B>desorb, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to release (a gas or other substance) from a condition of being adsorbed or absorbed. <BR> <I>Ex. The gas removed from a leak-tight vessel at low pressures is that desorbed from the walls of the apparatus and the materials held in the vacuum (New Scientist).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be or become desorbed. </DL>
<A NAME="desoriente">
<B>desoriente, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) having lost one's bearings; disoriented. </DL>
<A NAME="desorption">
<B>desorption, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the process of desorbing. <BR> <I>Ex. Even after the most careful preparation, desorption from the walls of the system constitutes a major source of the residual gas that keeps dribbling into an ultra-high-vacuum system (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<B>despair, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the loss of hope; state of being without hope; a dreadful feeling that nothing good can happen. <BR> <I>Ex. Despair seized us as we felt the boat sinking under us.</I> (SYN) hopelessness. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person or thing that causes despair. <BR> <I>Ex. Her temper tantrums were the despair of her parents.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to lose hope; be without hope. <BR> <I>Ex. The doctors despaired of saving the sick man's life.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Archaic.) to give up hope of. noun <B>despairer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="despairful">
<B>despairful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> full of despair; despairing. adv. <B>despairfully.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="despairing">
<B>despairing, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> feeling, showing, or expressing despair; hopeless. <BR> <I>Ex. a despairing cry.</I> adv. <B>despairingly.</B> noun <B>despairingness.</B> </DL>
<B>desperado, </B>noun, pl. <B>-does</B> or <B>-dos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bold, reckless criminal; dangerous outlaw. <BR> <I>Ex. Billy the Kid and Jesse James were two famous desperadoes of the Wild West.</I> </DL>
