desert
noun
a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all.
had been deserting
-
past perfect progressiveof desert.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But finally the idea came to her to form a battalion of women soldiers and shame the men into returning to the front, from which they had been deserting in large numbers.
From A Treasury of Heroes and Heroines A Record of High Endeavour and Strange Adventure from 500 B.C. to 1920 A.D. by Clayton Edwards
Meanwhile, during the negotiations, the queen’s troops had been deserting; a surrender became inevitable, and Bothwell returned to Dunbar, parting from Mary for ever.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various
We learned that some of the Hanoverians had been deserting.
From After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 by Major W. E Frye
