service

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

English

Alternative forms

• seruice (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː.vɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɜːɹ.vɪs/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)vɪs
• Hyphenation: ser‧vice

Etymology 1

From Middle English servise, from Old French servise (French service), from the verb servir, from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus (“servant; serf; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Displaced native Old English þeġnung.

Noun

service (countable and uncountable, plural services)

1. An act of being of assistance to someone.
2. The state of being subordinate to or employed by an individual or group.
4. (elliptical, uncountable) Work as a member of the military.

   Synonym: military service

6. (economics) The practice of providing assistance as economic activity.
7. (business) Synonym of utility (“commodity provided on a continuous basis by a physical infrastructure network, such as electricity, water supply or sewerage”).
8. A department in a company, organization, or institution.
9. (computing) A function that is provided by one program or machine for another.

11. (with the) The military.

12. A set of dishes or utensils.
13. (sports) The act of initially starting, or serving, the ball in play in tennis, volleyball, and other games.

14. A religious rite or ritual.

15. (law) The serving, or delivery, of a summons or writ.
    • 1668 July 3, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 548:

      He Suſpends on theſe Reaſons, that Thomas Rue had granted a general Diſcharge to Adam Muſhet, who was his Conjunct, and correus debendi, after the alleadged Service, which Diſcharged Muſhet, and conſequently Houstoun his Partner.

16. (Israel, West Bank, also in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) A taxi shared among unrelated passengers, each of whom pays part of the fare; often, it has a fixed route between cities.
17. A musical composition for use in churches.
18. (obsolete) Profession of respect; acknowledgment of duty owed.
19. (nautical) The materials used for serving a rope, etc., such as spun yarn and small lines.
20. Access to resources such as hotel rooms and Web-based videos without transfer of the resources' ownership.

Usage notes

In British English, the indefinite article "a" is often used with “good service”, as in "A good service is operating on all London Underground lines", whereas this is not used in American English.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “economics”): capital

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

• (economics, business): good

Derived terms

Related terms

• service à la française
• service à la russe

Translations

Verb

service (third-person singular simple present services, present participle servicing, simple past and past participle serviced)

1. (transitive) To serve.
   1. (transitive) To perform maintenance.

   2. (public relations, transitive) To supply (media outlets) with press releases etc.
2. (transitive, agriculture, euphemistic) To inseminate through sexual intercourse.
3. (transitive, vulgar) To perform a sexual act upon.

4. (transitive, military, euphemistic) To attack.

   to service a target; target servicing

Synonyms

• (to serve): attend, wait on; See also Thesaurus:serve
• (to perform a sexual act): be with, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Dutch: service
  • → Indonesian: servis
• → German: Service
• → Hindustani

  Hindi: सर्विस (sarvis)

  Urdu: سروس (sarvis)

• → Hungarian: szerviz
• → Japanese: サービス (sābisu)
• → Korean: 서비스 (seobiseu)
• → Persian:

  Dari: سرویس (sarwīs)

• → Russian: сервис (servis)
• → Ukrainian: сервіс (servis)

Translations

Etymology 2

Properly, the tree that bears sorb fruit, from Middle English serves, plural of serve (“sorb apple, serviceberry”), from Old English syrfe, from Vulgar Latin *sorbea, from Latin sorbus (“service tree”). See sorb.

Noun

service (plural services)

2. Service tree.
4. The sorb; the fruit of this tree.

Translations

Anagrams

• cerevis, scrieve

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English service.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ser‧vice

Noun

service f or m (plural services)

1. service
2. after-sales

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French servise, borrowed from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.vis/
• Homophones: services, servisse, servissent, servisses

Noun

service m (plural services)

1. service

   Cet employé a obtenu sa retraite après trente années de service. ― This employee retired after thirty years of service.

   être d’un bon service ― to be of good service

2. (tennis) service
3. (Switzerland, in the plural) cutlery
4. set (collection of objects)

Derived terms

Related terms

• servir
• servant
• serf

Descendants

• → Romanian: serviciu
• → Turkish: servis

Interjection

service

1. (Switzerland) you're welcome

Further reading

• “service”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “service” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.

Anagrams

• écrives

Middle English

Noun

service

1. Alternative form of servise

Norman

Alternative forms

• sèrvice (Jersey)

Etymology

From Old French servise, (compare French service), borrowed from Latin servitium, from servus.

Noun

service m (plural services)

1. (Guernsey) service

Old French

Noun

service oblique singular, m (oblique plural services, nominative singular services, nominative plural service)

1. Alternative form of servise

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English service.

Noun

service n (plural service-uri)

1. service

Declension

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

service c

1. service, the level of comfort offered by assistants and servants (the opposite of self-service)
2. maintenance and repair

Declension

Related terms

See also

• servis
• tjänst