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To merit or deserve, as by labor or service; to do that which entitles one to (a reward, whether the reward is received or not). The high repute Which he through hazard huge must earn. Milton.

o praise; to magnify; as, to extol virtue; to extol an act or a person. Wherein have I so deserved of you, That you extol me thus Shak.

; to encounter; as, to face an enemy in the field of battale. I'll face This tempest, and deserve the name of king. Dryden.

; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. To plead for love deserves more fee than hate. Shak.

Earlier, as between two things mentioned together; first mentioned. A bad author deserves better usage than a bad critic; a man may be the former merely through the misfortune of an ill judgment; but he can not be latter without both that and an ill temper. Pope.

A wretch who deserves the gallows. [R.] Shak.

a condition or supposition. Tisiphone, that oft hast heard my prayer, Assist, if OEdipus deserve thy care. Pope. If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Matt. iv. 3.

be ingenuous, to be loaded with courtesies which he hath not the least hope to requite or deserve. Fuller.

To produce; to cause to exist; to induce. [Obs.] Whosoever introduces habits in children, deserves the care and attention of their governors. Locke.

of superiority. Shenstone. Whoever had qualities to alarm our jealousy, had excellence to deserve our fondness. Rambler.

The object of laughter or sport; a laughingstock. Then let me be your jest; I deserve it. Shak. In jest, for mere sport or diversion; not in truth and reality; not in earnest. And given in earnest what I begged in jest. Shak. -- Jest book, a book containing a collection of jests, jokes, and amusing anecdotes; a Joe Mil…

he smallest or lowest degree; in a degree below all others; as, to reward those who least deserve it.

on. It is their profession and livelihood to get their living by practices for which they deserve to forfeit their lives. South.

To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart. [Obs.] To sell and mart your officer for gold To undeservers. Shak.

To deserve; to merit. [Obs.] Heywood.

Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation; as, his teacher gave him ten merits. Those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth. Prior.

By merit; deservedly.

ll him, to his harm and ours. Shak. Such whose consciences misgave them, how ill they had deserved. Milton.

note of; remark upon; to make comments on; to refer to; as, to notice a book. This plant deserves to be noticed in this place. Tooke. Another circumstance was noticed in connection with the suggestion last discussed. Sir W. Hamilton.

To merit or deserve beforehand. [Obs.] Eikon Basi