Deseret

See also: deseret

English

the State of Deseret

Etymology

From the Book of Mormon, in which the word is said to mean honey bee in the language of the Jaredites.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛz.əˈɹɛt/, /dɛz.ɚ.ɛt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: De‧se‧ret, De‧ser‧et

Proper noun

Deseret

1. (chiefly historical) A state, proposed in 1849 and never recognized, which would have included most of Utah and Nevada and parts of other states.
   • 1872, Mark Twain, “Appendix A”, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Co.:

     In 1849 the Mormons organized a "free and independent" government and erected the "State of Deseret," with Brigham Young as its head. But the very next year Congress deliberately snubbed it and created the "Territory of Utah" out of the same accumulation of mountains, sage-brush, alkali and general desolation, -- but made Brigham Governor of it.

2. (poetic) The state of Utah itself, especially the Salt Lake Valley and environs.
   • 1998 January 4, Jeffrey P. Haney, “Lehi takes center stage at Statehood Day events”, in Deseret News‎^[1], Lehi, Utah: Deseret News Publishing Co.:

     Nearly 1,000 people attended tours of the 15,000-resident city, a dinner and a ceremony to commemorate Utah's Jan. 4 birthday, when the land of Deseret became an arm of the Union.

3. A script, invented in Utah, conceived of as a radical reform and replacement of the Latin script, intended for writing English phonetically. Example: the word seven in Deseret is 𐑅𐐯𐑂𐐮𐑌.

Related terms

• State of Deseret

See also

• Appendix:Deseret script

Anagrams

• reested, steered