serve

1 of 2

verb

served; serving

intransitive verb

1
a
: to be a servant
b
: to do military or naval service
2
: to assist a celebrant as server at mass
3
a
: to be of use
in a day when few people could write, seals served as signaturesElizabeth W. King
b
: to be favorable, opportune, or convenient
c
: to be worthy of reliance or trust
if memory serves
d
: to hold an office : discharge a duty or function
serve on a jury
4
: to prove adequate or satisfactory : suffice
it will serve for this task
5
: to help persons to food: such as
a
: to wait at table
b
: to set out portions of food or drink
6
: to wait on customers
7
: to put the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games (such as tennis, volleyball, or badminton)

transitive verb

1
a
: to be a servant to : attend
b
: to give the service and respect due to (a superior)
c
: to comply with the commands or demands of : gratify
d
: to give military or naval service to
e
: to perform the duties of (an office or post)
2
: to act as server at (mass)
3
archaic : to pay a lover's or suitor's court to (a lady)
that gentle lady, whom I love and serveEdmund Spenser
4
a
: to work through (a term of service)
b
: to put in (a term of imprisonment)
5
a
: to wait on at table
b
: to bring (food) to a diner
c
: present, provide
usually used with up
the novel served up many laughs
6
a
: to furnish or supply with something needed or desired
b
: to wait on (a customer) in a store
c
: to furnish professional service to
7
a
: to answer the needs of
b
: to be enough for : suffice
c
: to contribute or conduce to : promote
8
: to treat or act toward in a specified way
he served me ill
9
a
: to bring to notice, deliver, or execute as required by law
b
: to make legal service upon (a person named in a process)
10
of a male animal : to copulate with
11
: to wind yarn or wire tightly around (a rope or stay) for protection
12
: to provide services that benefit or help
13
: to put (the ball or shuttlecock) in play (as in tennis, volleyball, or badminton)

serve

2 of 2

noun

: the act or action of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games (such as volleyball, badminton, or tennis)
also : a turn to serve
it's your serve
Phrases
serve one right
: to be deserved

Examples of serve in a Sentence

Verb Soup was served as the first course. The waiter served our meals quickly. The restaurant serves excellent Italian food. The waiter who served us was very nice. Feel free to serve yourself at the salad bar. You carve the turkey, and I'll serve. The roast should serve six. I'm afraid all of our salespeople are serving other customers right now. What can we do to serve our customers better? Noun She started the game with a powerful serve.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Judges grant such requests in cases where a lawsuit shouldn’t have been filed or was litigated too aggressively, and fee awards can serve as a powerful deterrent against future questionable lawsuits. Bill Donahue, Billboard, 19 Mar. 2024 Embracing the evergreen Unlike most vinyl, wood or metal fences, a hedge can serve multiple purposes at once. Kate Morgan, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2024 The Dining Room serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or arrange for a romantic oceanfront dinner on the beach. Cynthia J Drake, Southern Living, 19 Mar. 2024 While the unfinished book served as a compass, Meffire also kept an open line of communication with Bauer throughout the shoot. Ed Meza, Variety, 19 Mar. 2024 But for hyper-growth companies like us, navigating regulations and challenges also serves as the fuel that drives the creativity required to connect with today’s cannabis consumer. Mario Naric, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2024 At the beginning of Joey Graziadei’s season, Noles and Swarts helped Graziadei, 28, judge a Mrs. Right pageant that served as a group date. Dana Rose Falcone, Peoplemag, 19 Mar. 2024 Google and Meta now serve billions of people around the world. Paresh Dave, WIRED, 18 Mar. 2024 The facility is low-barrier, meaning participants can still be struggling with addiction, and serves Vista and Encinitas. Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2024
Noun
Hush puppies are an easy side to half-heartedly serve, but these were seasoned and had just the right amount of ... chive flavor? Victoria Moorwood, The Enquirer, 8 Mar. 2024 Cold Stone was founded in Tempe, Arizona, by a couple of ice cream lovers who craved fresh scoops that were neither hard pack nor soft serve. Linda Zavoral, The Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2024 The 18-year-old is making a name for himself with his aggressive play and big serve. Tim Ellis, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 The Falcons lost most of their firepower to graduation, but Reyes’ jump serve and versatility will keep them in most matches. San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Feb. 2024 The re-inspection went fine until the inspector saw two dead roaches, a live roach on single serve trays at the front counter and three live roaches on the front counter floor. David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024 The Under the Rainbow Shake is made of strawberry flavor and rainbow sprinkles blended with soft serve vanilla ice cream. Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 5 Mar. 2024 Alcaraz nailed some winners, while Nadal revved up his serves and managed to tie it up at 9-9 with a volley that brought the crowd to its feet. Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Mar. 2024 March 15: Off the Hook fish & chips, LaRosa's pizza, RoRo Cookie Co. and soft serve ice cream. The Enquirer, 14 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'serve.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English serven, sarven "to perform a duty, be employed, assume the role of personal attendant, be of use (of a body part), perform religious rites, provide food and drink (to people at a table), deliver (a legal writ)," borrowed from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French servir, borrowed from Medieval Latin serviō, servīre, going back to Latin, "to perform duties for (a master) in the capacity of a slave, act in subservience, be at the service of," verbal derivative of servus "slave," perhaps, if the original sense was "watcher (of flocks), guardian," derivative with the nominal suffix *-u̯o-, of the Indo-European verbal base *ser- "keep watch on, guard," whence, with varying ablaut and derivation, Greek (Homeric) epì…órontai "they kept watch over," Greek éphoros "watcher, overseer," phrourós "guard, watchman" (< *pro-horós), phrourā́ "guard duty," Avestan nišhauruuaiti "(s/he) keeps watch on" (from a stem *har-u̯a-), pasuš.hauruua "guarding the flock (of a dog)," harətar- "watcher, guardian"

Note: The above etymology of Latin servus "slave" is carefully argued by Helmut Rix (Die Termini der Unfreiheit in den Sprachen Alt-Italiens, Stuttgart, 1994, pp. 54-88), who rejects claims that the word is of Etruscan origin. Rix hypothesizes that between about 700 b.c. and 450 b.c., as most transhumant shepherds in the Italian peninsula came to be slaves, an agent noun meaning "flock guard" developed a secondary sense "slave," and by the time of the earliest Latin texts had largely lost its original meaning (with pāstor becoming the usual word for a shepherd—see pastor entry 1). The presumption is that Italic languages—as Indo-European languages generally—lacked a word for "slave," as slavery was an institution endemic to older Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations. Note that Umbrian has a verb exemplified by the imperative seritu "(let him/her) protect!" that corresponds in form but not in sense to Latin servīre, which had been repurposed to reflect the new meaning of the noun *seru̯os. Rix hypothesizes that the Latin verb servāre "to watch over, look after" originally meant exclusively "to watch (the skies for an omen)," as a derivative of a noun *seru̯ā or *seru̯om "observation (of the skies)," and suggests that its senses expanded to cover those formerly held by the repurposed verb servīre.

Noun

derivative of serve entry 1

First Known Use

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun

1688, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of serve was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near serve

Cite this Entry

“Serve.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/serve. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

serve

1 of 2 verb
served; serving
1
a
: to be a servant
b
: to give the service and respect due
c
: to work through or perform a term of service
served five years in the marines
d
: to be in prison for or during
served a 10-year sentence
2
a
: to act officially as a clergyman or priest
serve mass
b
: to assist as server at mass
3
a
: to be of use : answer a purpose
the tree serves as shelter
b
: to be favorable or convenient
when the time serves
c
: to hold an office : perform a duty
serve on a jury
4
: to be enough for
a pie that will serve eight people
5
a
: to help persons to food (as at a table or counter)
b
: to set out portions of food or drink
6
a
: to furnish or supply with something needed or desired
b
: to wait on customers
7
: to treat or act toward in a certain way
they served me ill
8
: to bring to notice, deliver, or carry out as required by law
serve a summons
9
: to make a serve (as in tennis)

serve

2 of 2 noun
: the act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play (as in tennis or badminton)

Legal Definition

serve

transitive verb
served; serving
1
: to deliver, publish, or execute (notice or process) as required by law
no notice of any such request was ever served on the husbandNational Law Journal
2
: to make legal service upon (the person named in a process) : inform or notify by legal service
unless the city had been served with prior notice of a defectGene Mustain
3
: to put in (a term of imprisonment)
has served five years of her sentence

More from Merriam-Webster on serve

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!