desolation
(dɛsəʊˈleɪʃən)
[a. F. désolation (12th c. in Hatzf.), or ad. L. dēsōlātiōn-em, n. of action from dēsōlāre to desolate.]
The action of desolating; the condition of being left desolate.
1. The action of laying waste a land, etc., destroying its people, crops, and buildings, and making it unfit for habitation; utter devastation; an act or occasion of this kind. Also personified.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21 Alle the days of desolacioun he dide saboth. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 58 What more abhominacoun of desolacoun in holi place þan þat a swyn do vpon þe holy vestiment. 1526 Tindale Mark xiii. 13 When ye se the abominacion that betokeneth desolacion [Wyclif of discomfort]. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. iii. 18 All fell feats, Enlynckt to wast and desolation. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 201 Wars and all those barbarous desolations which we read of. 1774 Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1772, 58 The general desolation of the place by the Danes. 1814 Byron Lara ii. x, And Desolation reap'd the famish'd land. 1821 ― Two Foscari i. i, I have follow'd long Thy path of desolation. |
| fig. 1893 Chicago Advance 30 Nov., The financial panic..the desolations of which are by no means yet overpast. |
2. The condition of a place which by hostile ravaging or by natural character is unfit for habitation; waste or ruined state; dreary barrenness.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 144 (Mätz.) In a dirk prisoun of desolacioun. 1490 Caxton Eneydos i. 14 Now was that pyetous cyte alle brent and putte in desolacyon suffretous. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii. 318 Least he impede..the course of Nylus..and so bring Egypt to desolation. 1667 Milton P.L. I. 181 Yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde, The seat of desolation. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, Such elegance..contrasted with the desolation of the house. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. i. 16 The general character..of the mountains of Sinai, is entire desolation. If the mountains are naked Alps, the valleys are dry rivers. |
b. A thing or place in this condition; a desolate place; a dreary waste or ruin.
| 1611 Bible Jer. xxii. 5 This house shall become a desolation. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocracy Wks. (Bohn) II. 76 Many of the halls..are beautiful desolations. |
3. Deprivation of companionship; the condition or sense of being forsaken; solitariness, loneliness.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 357 You haue liu'd in desolation heere, Vnseene, vnuisited. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. viii. 1046 Loathsome desolation, In stead of company. 1818 Shelley Rev. Islam x. xliii, As near one lover's tomb Two gentle sisters mourn their desolation. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 57 Sand-engirded, alone, then first she knew desolation. |
4. Deprivation of comfort or joy; dreary sorrow; grief.
| 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xii. 19 Thei schulen drynke her watir in desolacioun. c 1477 Caxton Jason 22 b, I am cause of alle the desolation of Oliferne. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 400 Euerie thing about you, demonstrating a carelesse desolation. 1752 Warburton Lett. (1809) 118 Poor Foster..is overwhelmed with desolation for the loss of his master. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scotl. I. vi. 480 Desolation and astonishment appeared in every part of the Scottish Church. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 274 The hopeless inner desolation which is the unbroken lot of myriads. |
5. That which makes desolate.
rare.
| 1608 Yorksh. Trag. i. ix, Ruinous man! The desolation of his house. |