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Webster 1913 Edition


Serve

Serve

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Served
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Serving
.]
[OE.
serven
,
servien
, OF. & F.
servir
, fr. L.
servire
; akin to
servus
a servant or slave,
servare
to protect, preserve, observe; cf. Zend
har
to protect,
haurva
protecting. Cf.
Conserve
,
Desert
merit,
Dessert
,
Observe
,
Serf
,
Sergeant
.]
1.
To work for; to labor in behalf of; to exert one’s self continuously or statedly for the benefit of; to do service for; to be in the employment of, as an inferior, domestic, serf, slave, hired assistant, official helper, etc.; specifically, in a religious sense, to obey and worship.
God is my witness, whom I
serve
with my spirit.
Rom. i. 9.
Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will
serve
thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
Gen. xxix. 18.
No man can
serve
two masters.
Matt. vi. 24.
Had I but
served
my God with half the zeal
I
served
my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.
Shakespeare
2.
To be subordinate to; to act a secondary part under; to appear as the inferior of; to minister to.
Bodies bright and greater should not
serve

The less not bright.
Milton.
3.
To be suitor to; to profess love to.
[Obs.]
To
serve
a lady in his beste wise.
Chaucer.
4.
To wait upon; to supply the wants of; to attend; specifically, to wait upon at table; to attend at meals; to supply with food;
as, to
serve
customers in a shop
.
Others, pampered in their shameless pride,
Are
served
in plate and in their chariots ride.
Dryden.
5.
Hence, to bring forward, arrange, deal, or distribute, as a portion of anything, especially of food prepared for eating; – often with up; formerly with in.
Bid them cover the table,
serve
in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.
Shakespeare
Some part he roasts, then
serves
it up so dressed.
Dryde.
6.
To perform the duties belonging to, or required in or for; hence, to be of use to;
as, a curate may
serve
two churches; to
serve
one's country
.
7.
To contribute or conduce to; to promote; to be sufficient for; to satisfy;
as, to
serve
one's turn
.
Turn it into some advantage, by observing where it can
serve
another end.
Jer. Taylor.
8.
To answer or be (in the place of something) to;
as, a sofa
serves
one for a seat and a couch
.
9.
To treat; to behave one's self to; to requite; to act toward;
as, he
served
me very ill
.
10.
To work; to operate;
as, to
serve
the guns
.
11.
(Law)
(a)
To bring to notice, deliver, or execute, either actually or constructively, in such manner as the law requires;
as, to
serve
a summons
.
(b)
To make legal service opon (a person named in a writ, summons, etc.);
as, to
serve
a witness with a subpœna
.
12.
To pass or spend, as time, esp. time of punishment;
as, to
serve
a term in prison
.
13.
To copulate with; to cover;
as, a horse
serves
a mare
; – said of the male.
14.
(Tennis)
To lead off in delivering (the ball).
15.
(Naut.)
To wind spun yarn, or the like, tightly around (a rope or cable, etc.) so as to protect it from chafing or from the weather. See under
Serving
.
To serve an attachment
or
To serve a writ of attachment
(Law)
,
to levy it on the person or goods by seizure, or to seize.
To serve an execution
(Law)
,
to levy it on a lands, goods, or person, by seizure or taking possession.
To serve an office
,
to discharge a public duty.
To serve a process
(Law)
,
in general, to read it, so as to give due notice to the party concerned, or to leave an attested copy with him or his attorney, or his usual place of abode.
To serve a warrant
,
to read it, and seize the person against whom it is issued.
To serve a writ
(Law)
,
to read it to the defendant, or to leave an attested copy at his usual place of abode.
To serve one out
,
to retaliate upon; to requite.
“I'll serve you out for this.”
C. Kingsley.
To serve one right
,
to treat, or cause to befall one, according to his deserts; – used commonly of ill deserts;
as, it
serves
the scoundrel
right
.
To serve one's self of
,
to avail one's self of; to make use of.
[A Gallicism]

I will
serve myself of
this concession.
Chillingworth.
To serve out
,
to distribute;
as,
to serve out
rations
.
To serve the time
or
To serve the hour
,
to regulate one's actions by the requirements of the time instead of by one's duty; to be a timeserver.
[Obs.]
They think herein we
serve the time
, because thereby we either hold or seek preferment.
Hooker.
Syn. – To obey; minister to; subserve; promote; aid; help; assist; benefit; succor.

Serve

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To be a servant or a slave; to be employed in labor or other business for another; to be in subjection or bondage; to render menial service.
The Lord shall give thee rest . . . from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to
serve
.
Isa. xiv. 3.
2.
To perform domestic offices; to be occupied with household affairs; to prepare and dish up food, etc.
But Martha . . . said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to
serve
alone?
Luke x. 40.
3.
To be in service; to do duty; to discharge the requirements of an office or employment. Specifically, to act in the public service, as a soldier, seaman. etc.
Many . . . who had before been great commanders, but now
served
as private gentlemen without pay.
Knolles.
4.
To be of use; to answer a purpose; to suffice; to suit; to be convenient or favorable.
This little brand will
serve
to light your fire.
Dryden.
As occasion
serves
, this noble queen
And prince shall follow with a fresh supply.
Shakespeare
5.
(Tennis)
To lead off in delivering the ball.

Webster 1828 Edition


Serve

SERVE

,
Verb.
T.
serv. [L. servio. This verb is supposed to be from the noun servus, a servant or slave, and this from servo, to keep.]
1. To work for; to bestow the labor of body and mind in the employment of another.
Jacob loved Rachel and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy youngest daughters. Gen. 29.
No man can serve two masters. Matt. 6.
2. To act as the minister of; to perform official duties to; as, a minister serves his prince.
Had I served God as diligently as I have served the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs. Cardinal Woolsey.
3. To attend at command; to wait on.
A goddess among gods, ador'd and serv'd
By anbels numberless, thy daily train. Milton.
4. To obey servilely or meanly. be not to wealth a servant.
5. To supply with food; as, to be served in plate.
6. To be subservient or subordinate to.
Bodies bright and greater should not serve
The less not bright. Milton.
7. To perform the duties required in; as, the curate served two churches.
8. To obey; to perform duties in the employment of; as, to serve the king or the country in the army or navy.
9. To be sufficient, or to promote; as, to serve one's turn, end or purpose.
10. To help by good offices; as, to serve one's country.
11. To comply with; to submit to.
They think herein we serve the time, because thereby we either hold or seek preferment. Hooker.
12. To be sufficient for; to satisfy; to content.
One half pint bottle serves them both to dine,
And is at once their vinegar and wine. Pope.
13. To be in the place of any thing to one. A sofa serves the Turks for a seat and a couch.
14. To treat; to requite; as, he served me ungratefully; he served me very ill; We say also, he served me a trick, that is he deceived me, or practiced an artifice on me.
15. In Scripture and theology, to obey and worship; to act in conformity to the law of a superior, and treat him with due reverence.
Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. As for me and my house, we will serve the lord. Josh. 24.
16. In a bad sense, to obey; to yeild compliance or act according to.

Definition 2024


serve

serve

English

A jump serve in a game of volleyball

Noun

serve (plural serves)

  1. (sports) An act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games.
    Whose serve is it?
    • 1961 January 13, Marshall Smith, From Waif to a Winner, the Clown of the Courts, Life, page 99,
      He had no power serve of his own, no backhand, no volley, no lob, no idea of pace or tactics.
    • 1996, Steve Boga, Badminton, page viii,
      The first serve of the game is from the right half court to the half diagonally opposite.
    • 2009, Mihnea Moldoveanu, Roger L. Martin, Diaminds: Decoding the Mental Habits of Successful Thinkers, page 31,
      Against a serve of the calibre of McEnroe′s, an opponent will try to anticipate the ball′s direction and lean either to the left or to the right, depending on where he feels the server will go.
  2. (chiefly Australia) A portion of food or drink, a serving.
    • 2004, Susanna Holt, Fitness Food: The Essential Guide to Eating Well and Performing Better, Murdoch Books Australia, page 23,
      The night before your event, base your evening meal on high-carbohydrate foods with a small serve of lean protein.
    • 2007, Verity Campbell, Turkey, Lonely Planet, page 142,
      Come here for a cappuccino that could hold its own on Via Veneto in Rome (€2) and a serve of their crunchy fresh cheese börek.
    • 2008, Michael E. Cichorski, Maximum Asthma Control: The Revolutionary 3-Step Anti Asthma Program, page 100,
      Reintroduce protein; add a small serve of salmon, tuna or sardines every second day (tinned variety or fresh).
    • 2011, Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Health Committee, Alcohol: First Report of Session 2009-10, Volume 2, page 189,
      Smirnoff Appleback was a finished drink, comprising a 50ml serve of Smirnoff, with ice and lemonade or ginger ale and equating to 1.9 units.
    • 2012, Lesley Campbell, Alan L. Rubin, Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies, Australian Edition, page 117,
      One serve of carbohydrates is approximately equal to a slice of bread, a piece of fruit, third of a cup of cooked rice, half a cup of grains, cereals, starchy vegetables or cooked pasta, 200 grams of plain yoghurt, or 300 millilitres of milk.

Synonyms

  • (act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play): service
  • (portion of food): See serving

Antonyms

  • (sports: act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play): receive

Translations

Verb

serve (third-person singular simple present serves, present participle serving, simple past and past participle served)

  1. (heading, personal) To provide a service.
    1. (transitive) To be a formal servant for (a god or deity); to worship in an official capacity. [from 12thc.]
    2. (transitive) To be a servant for; to work for, to be employed by. [from 13thc.]
      • 1716, Joseph Addison, The Drummer
        And, truly, Mrs Abigail, I must needs say, I served my master contentedly while he was living, but I will serve no man living (that is, no man that is not living) without double wages.
      • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
        [] his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve.
      • 1979, Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody:
        You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief, / They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief / But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
    3. (transitive) To wait upon (someone) at table; to set food and drink in front of, to help (someone) to food, meals etc. [from 13thc.]
      • 2007, Larry McMurty, When the Light Goes
        That night Annie served him grilled halibut and English peas, plus tomatoes, of course, and a salad.
    4. (intransitive) To be a servant or worker; to perform the duties of a servant or employee; to render service. [from 14thc.]
    5. (transitive) To set down (food or drink) on the table to be eaten; to bring (food, drink) to a person. [from 15thc.]
      • 2009, Dominic A Pacyga, Chicago: A Biography, p.195:
        About twenty minutes after waiters served the soup, a guest got up and left.
  2. (transitive, archaic) To treat (someone) in a given manner. [from 13thc.]
    • 1924, H. Rider Haggard, Belshazzar
      I mock them all who have served me ill of late and chiefly this cheat of Judah, whose temple we have plundered and whose golden vessels are my wash-pots.
  3. (transitive, archaic) To be suitor to; to be the lover of. [from 14thc.]
  4. (heading) To be effective.
    1. (transitive) To be useful to; to meet the needs of. [from 14thc.]
      • 2010 October 12, Lloyd Marcus, The Guardian
        So, while the sycophantic liberal media calls any and all opposition to Obama racist, they give Obama carte blanche to exploit his race whenever it serves his purpose.
    2. (intransitive) To have a given use or purpose; to function for something or to do something. [from 14thc.]
      • 2011 January 27, "Borgata bust", The Economist
        The bust also served to remind the public that the Mafia is not harmless.
      • 2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 171:
        Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work. The achievement will transform neuroscience and serve as the starting point for asking questions we could not otherwise have answered, [].
    3. (intransitive) To usefully take the place as, instead of something else. [from 14thc.]
      • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapterII:
        Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. []. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.
      • 2010 April 20, "Not up in the air", The Economist
        Maybe the volcanic eruption will serve as a wake-up call to such companies that they need to modernise their risk management.
  5. (heading, transitive, law) To deliver a document.
    1. To officially deliver (a legal notice, summons etc.). [from 15thc.]
      • 2008 April, Pamela Colloff, The Fire That Time, Texas Monthly; Austin: Emmis Publishing, p.158:
        On the morning of February 28, 1993, ATF agents gathered at a staging area near Waco and prepared to serve a search warrant on the Branch Davidians' residence.
    2. To make legal service upon (a person named in a writ, summons, etc.)
      to serve a witness with a subpoena
  6. (transitive, intransitive, sports) To lead off with the first delivery over the net in tennis, volleyball, ping pong, badminton etc. [from 16thc.]
    • 2007, Rob Antoun, Women's Tennis Tactics, p.2:
      In women's tennis the need to serve more effectively has become greater in recent years because the game is being played more aggressively, and rallies are becoming shorter as a result.
  7. (transitive) To copulate with (of male animals); to cover. [from 16thc.]
    • 1996, Puck Bonnier et al., Dairy Cattle Husbandry, Agromisa Foundation 2004
      Conception means that a cow is served by a bull and that she becomes pregnant.
  8. (intransitive) To be in military service. [from 16thc.]
    • 2007 May 16, Peter Walker, The Guardian
      Some reports suggested he would quit the army if he was not allowed to serve abroad in a war zone.
  9. (transitive, military) To work, to operate (a weapon). [from 18thc.]
    • 1864, Horace Greeley, The American Conflict
      John T. Greble, of the 2d regular artillery, was likewise killed instantly by a ball through the head, while serving his gun in the face of the foe.
  10. (transitive) To work through (a given period of time in prison, a sentence). [from 19thc.]
    • 2010 December 1, Tania Branigan, The Guardian
      The Guangzhou Daily reported that Shi Chunlong, 20, who organised the incident, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Hou Bin, who pulled out of the attack after helping to plan it, will serve 12 years.
  11. (nautical) To wind spun yarn etc. tightly around (a rope or cable, etc.) so as to protect it from chafing or from the weather.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

  1. serve” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Anagrams


French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sɛʁv/

Verb

serve

  1. first-person and third-person singular present subjunctive of servir

Anagrams


Italian

Noun

serve f

  1. plural of serva

Verb

serve

  1. third-person singular present indicative of servire

Latin

Noun

serve m

  1. vocative singular of servus

Portuguese

Verb

serve

  1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of servir
  2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of servir