serve

serve

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of serve in English

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.
    Whose serve is it?
  2. (chiefly Australia) A portion of food or drink, a serving.
    • 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.
  3. (gay slang and African-American Vernacular) An impressive presentation (especially of a person's appearance).
    That white eyeliner is such a serve.

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

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 12thc.]
      • 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 13thc.]
    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.]
    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.]
  2. (transitive, archaic) To treat (someone) in a given manner. [from 13thc.]
  3. (transitive, archaic) To be suitor to; to be the lover of. [from 14thc.]
  4. To be effective.
    1. (transitive) To be useful to; to meet the needs of. [from 14thc.]
    2. (intransitive) To have a given use or purpose; to function for something or to do something. [from 14thc.]
    3. (intransitive) To usefully take the place as, instead of something else. [from 14thc.]
  5. (transitive, law) To deliver a document.
    1. To officially deliver (a legal notice, summons etc.). [from 15thc.]
    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 16thc.]
  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.]
  9. (transitive, military) To work, to operate (a weapon). [from 18thc.]
  10. (transitive) To work through (a given period of time in prison, a sentence). [from 19thc.]
  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).
    I've received a summons for jury duty. It says I serve one day or one trial.
    She served the office of mayor five years ago.
  13. (transitive, intransitive, slang, drugs) To provide crack cocaine (to), usually by selling, dealing, or distributing.
  14. (gay 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

  • (noun): sørv
  • (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. (transitive, intransitive, 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/, [ˈservə̟]
  • 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

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.