I.to sink, fall, or settle down.
I. Prop.: “tantos terrae motus factos esse, ut multa oppida corruerint, multis locis labes factae sint terraeque desiderint,” Cic. Div. 1, 35 fin.; 1, 43, 97; Liv. 32, 9; and poet. of the apparent sinking of mountains to one flying aloft: “Gargara desidunt surgenti,” Stat. Th. 1, 549: “ovum inane natat, plenum desidit,” Varr. R. R. 3, 9, 11; Just. 4, 1, 10: “ex urina quod desidit album est,” sediment, Cels. 2, 7: “tumor ex toto desidit,” id. 7, 18. —*
II. Trop., to deteriorate, degenerate: desidentes mores, Liv. prooem. 9.