serve
Definitions
General English
- verb to give food or drink to someone
- verb to help a customer, e.g. in a shop
- verb to start a point by hitting the ball, in sports such as tennis and squash
Agriculture
- verb of a male animal, to mate with a female
Aviation
- verb to be used for a purpose
Food
- verb to be enough food for a particular number of people
Law
- verb to deal with (a customer), to do a type of work
- verb to give someone a legal document that requires them to do something
- verb to spend a period of time in prison after being sentenced to imprisonment
Medical
- verb to give a person food or drink
- verb to be useful or helpful to a person or group
- verb to have a particular effect or result
Military
- verb to be employed in the armed forces
Politics
- verb to spend time as a member of a committee or as Member of Parliament
Sports
- noun an act of serving the ball or shuttlecock
- verb to begin a point by launching the ball or shuttlecock towards an opponent
Travel
- verb to bring food or drink to a customer
- verb to deal with a customer in a shop or bar
- verb to make enough food for
Origin & History of “serve”
Latin servus ‘slave’ has been a rich source of English vocabulary. It is the direct ancestor of serf (15th c.) (and of the second syllable of concierge (17th c.)). but it is its derivatives that have made the most numerous contributions. From the verb servīre ‘serve’ come deserve, dessert, sergeant, servant (13th c.), serve, and serviette (15th c.) (but not, despite the similarity, conserve, observe, preserve, reserve, etc, which go back to the unrelated Latin servāre ‘keep, protect’). Servītium ‘slavery’ has provided service (12th c.) and its derivative serviceable (14th c.), while from servīlis ‘slavish’ comes servile (14th c.).
