wil·der·ness /ˈwɪldɚ/
 荒野,荒地,大量


 Wil·der·ness n.
 1. A tract of land, or a region, uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or a wide, barren plain; a wild; a waste; a desert; a pathless waste of any kind.
    The wat'ry wilderness yields no supply.   --Waller.
 2. A disorderly or neglected place.
 3. Quality or state of being wild; wildness.  [Obs.]
 These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands.
 Will keep from wilderness with ease.   --Milton.

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 wilderness
      n : a wild and uninhabited area [syn: wild]


 Wilderness
    (1.) Heb. midhbar, denoting not a barren desert but a district
    or region suitable for pasturing sheep and cattle (Ps. 65:12;
    Isa. 42:11; Jer. 23:10; Joel 1:19; 2:22); an uncultivated place.
    This word is used of the wilderness of Beersheba (Gen. 21:14),
    on the southern border of Palestine; the wilderness of the Red
    Sea (Ex. 13:18); of Shur (15:22), a portion of the Sinaitic
    peninsula; of Sin (17:1), Sinai (Lev. 7:38), Moab (Deut. 2:8),
    Judah (Judg. 1:16), Ziph, Maon, En-gedi (1 Sam. 23:14, 24;
    24:1), Jeruel and Tekoa (2 Chr. 20:16, 20), Kadesh (Ps. 29:8).

      "The wilderness of the sea" (Isa. 21:1). Principal Douglas,
    referring to this expression, says: "A mysterious name, which
    must be meant to describe Babylon (see especially ver. 9),
    perhaps because it became the place of discipline to God's
    people, as the wilderness of the Red Sea had been (comp. Ezek.
    20:35). Otherwise it is in contrast with the symbolic title in
    Isa. 22:1. Jerusalem is the "valley of vision," rich in
    spiritual husbandry; whereas Babylon, the rival centre of
    influence, is spiritually barren and as restless as the sea
    (comp. 57:20)." A Short Analysis of the O.T.

      (2.) Jeshimon, a desert waste (Deut. 32:10; Ps. 68:7).

      (3.) 'Arabah, the name given to the valley from the Dead Sea
    to the eastern branch of the Red Sea. In Deut. 1:1; 2:8, it is
    rendered "plain" (R.V., "Arabah").

      (4.) Tziyyah, a "dry place" (Ps. 78:17; 105:41).

      (5.) Tohu, a "desolate" place, a place "waste" or "unoccupied"
    (Deut. 32:10; Job 12:24; comp. Gen. 1:2, "without form"). The
    wilderness region in the Sinaitic peninsula through which for
    forty years the Hebrews wandered is generally styled "the
    wilderness of the wanderings." This entire region is in the form
    of a triangle, having its base toward the north and its apex
    toward the south. Its extent from north to south is about 250
    miles, and at its widest point it is about 150 miles broad.
    Throughout this vast region of some 1,500 square miles there is
    not a single river. The northern part of this triangular
    peninsula is properly the "wilderness of the wanderings"
    (et-Tih). The western portion of it is called the "wilderness of
    Shur" (Ex. 15:22), and the eastern the "wilderness of Paran."

      The "wilderness of Judea" (Matt. 3:1) is a wild, barren
    region, lying between the Dead Sea and the Hebron Mountains. It
    is the "Jeshimon" mentioned in 1 Sam. 23:19.