serve

English Online Dictionary. What means serve‎? What does serve mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English serven, from Old French servir, from Latin serviō (“be a slave; serve”), from Latin servus (“slave; servant”), which perhaps derives from Etruscan (compare Etruscan proper names 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌉 (servi), 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌄 (serve)), or from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“watch over, protect”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɜːv/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɝv/
• (dialectal, obsolete) IPA^(key): /sɑː(ɹ)v/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)v

Noun

serve (plural serves)

1. (sports) An act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games.
2. (chiefly Australia) A portion of food or drink, a serving.
3. (gay slang and African-American Vernacular) An impressive presentation (especially of a person's appearance).

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “sports: act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play”): receive

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

1. (personal) To provide a service (or, by extension, a product, especially food or drink).
   1. (transitive) To be a formal servant for (a god or deity); to worship in an official capacity. [from 12^thc.]
      • 1889, Philip Schaff, translating St. Chrysostom, Homilies, XIV:

        And yet this is not the office of a Priest, but of Him whom the Priest should serve.

   2. (transitive) To be a servant for; to work for, to be employed by. [from 13^thc.]
   3. (transitive) To wait upon (someone) at table; to set food and drink in front of, to help (someone) to food, meals etc. [from 13^thc.]
   4. (intransitive, factive) To render service by being a servant, worker, employee, or officeholder; to hold those roles and perform their duties. [from 14^thc.]
   5. (transitive) To set down (food or drink) on the table to be eaten; to bring (food, drink) to a person. [from 15^thc.]
2. (transitive, archaic) To treat (someone) in a given manner. [from 13^thc.]
3. (transitive, archaic) To be suitor to; to be the lover of. [from 14^thc.]
4. To be effective.
   1. (transitive) To be useful to; to meet the needs of. [from 14^thc.]
   2. (intransitive) To have a given use or purpose; to function for something or to do something. [from 14^thc.]
   3. (intransitive) To usefully take the place as, instead of something else. [from 14^thc.]
5. (transitive, law) To deliver a document in such a way that the recipient can be legally considered to be informed of it.
   1. To officially deliver (a legal notice, summons etc.). [from 15^thc.]

   2. To make legal service upon (a person named in a writ, summons, etc.)

6. (transitive, intransitive, sports) To lead off with the first delivery over the net in tennis, volleyball, ping pong, badminton etc. [from 16^thc.]
7. (transitive) To copulate with (of male animals); to cover. [from 16^thc.]
   • 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 16^thc.]
9. (transitive, military) To work, to operate (a weapon). [from 18^thc.]
10. (transitive) To work through (a given period of time in prison, a sentence). [from 19^thc.]
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.
12. (transitive) To perform (a public obligation).

13. (ambitransitive, slang, drugs) To provide crack cocaine (to), usually by selling, dealing, or distributing.
15. (LGBTQ slang and African-American Vernacular) To present an attractive personal appearance.
    1. (intransitive) To present an attractive personal appearance.
    2. (transitive) To attractively display (something, especially a body part) as part of one's personal appearance.
    3. (transitive) To evoke (something, especially a person) with one's personal appearance.

Synonyms

• (to be a servant to): attend, bestand, wait on; See also Thesaurus:serve

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Thai: เสิร์ฟ (sə̀əp)

Translations

References

Anagrams

• 'verse, -verse, reves, sever, veers, verse

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛrvɛ]

Verb

serve

1. third-person singular future of servat

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁv/

Verb

serve

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

Further reading

• “serve”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• resve, rêves, rêvés, verse, versé

Galician

Verb

serve

1. third-person singular present indicative of servir
2. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of servir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

serve f pl

1. feminine plural of servo

Noun

serve f pl

1. plural of serva

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

serve

1. third-person singular present indicative of servire

Latin

Noun

serve m

1. vocative singular of servus

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• sørv (noun)
• (verb): serva (a infinitive); sørva, sørve

Etymology

Borrowed from English serve. Doublet of servere. Both are ultimately from Latin serviō.

Verb

serve (present tense servar, past tense serva, past participle serva, passive infinitive servast, present participle servande, imperative serve/serv)

1. (ambitransitive, sports) to serve (To lead off with the first delivery over the net in tennis, volleyball, ping pong, badminton etc.)

Noun

serve m (definite singular serven, indefinite plural servar, definite plural servane)

1. (sports) a serve

References

• “serve” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• verse

Portuguese

Verb

serve

1. inflection of servir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English serve.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɵrv/

Noun

serve c

1. (sports) serve

Declension

Related terms

• serva (“to serve”)

Votic

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Related to Estonian serv.

Pronunciation

• (Luutsa, Liivtšülä) IPA^(key): /ˈservæ/, [ˈservʲə̟]
• Rhymes: -ervæ
• Hyphenation: ser‧ve

Noun

serve

1. edge, brink, verge, border

Inflection

Descendants

• → Ingrian: servä

References

• Hallap, V., Adler, E., Grünberg, S., Leppik, M. (2012) “servä”, in Vadja keele sõnaraamat [A dictionary of the Votic language], 2nd edition, Tallinn