serve

noun

(chiefly Australia) A portion of food or drink, a serving.

(gay slang and African-American Vernacular) An impressive presentation (especially of a person's appearance).

(sports) An act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games.

verb

(personal) To provide a service (or, by extension, a product, especially food or drink).

(transitive) To be a servant for; to work for, to be employed by.

(transitive) To wait upon (someone) at table; to set food and drink in front of, to help (someone) to food, meals etc.

(transitive) To be useful to; to meet the needs of.

(transitive) To set down (food or drink) on the table to be eaten; to bring (food, drink) to a person.

(transitive) To be a formal servant for (a god or deity); to worship in an official capacity.

(intransitive, factive) To render service by being a servant, worker, employee, or officeholder; to hold those roles and perform their duties.

(intransitive) To have a given use or purpose; to function for something or to do something.

To be effective.

(intransitive) To usefully take the place as, instead of something else.

(intransitive) To be in military service.

(transitive, military) To work, to operate (a weapon).

(transitive) To work through (a given period of time in prison, a sentence).

(transitive) To perform (a public obligation).

(transitive, intransitive, sports) To lead off with the first delivery over the net in tennis, volleyball, ping pong, badminton etc.

(transitive, law) To deliver a document in such a way that the recipient can be legally considered to be informed of it.

To officially deliver (a legal notice, summons etc.).

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

(nautical) To wind spun yarn etc. tightly around (a rope or cable, etc.) so as to protect it from chafing or from the weather.

(transitive) To copulate with (of male animals); to cover.

(ambitransitive, slang, drugs) To provide crack cocaine (to), usually by selling, dealing, or distributing.

(LGBTQ slang and African-American Vernacular) To present an attractive personal appearance.

(intransitive) To present an attractive personal appearance.

(transitive) To attractively display (something, especially a body part) as part of one's personal appearance.

(transitive) To evoke (something, especially a person) with one's personal appearance.

(transitive, archaic) To treat (someone) in a given manner.

(transitive, archaic) To be suitor to; to be the lover of.

Roots

servioserv- · Latin · serve

Synonyms for serve

servicen assistv subservev helpv bestead providev functionn attendv

Words related to serve

serveryadj dishn caterv disserve volunteeredv

Synonyms & related words for serve

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of serve — including service, assist, subserve, help, bestead, provide. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to serve

Explore words related to serve — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include servery, dish, cater, disserve, volunteered. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for serve

Common synonyms for serve include service, assist, subserve, help, bestead, provide, function, attend — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does serve come from?

The word serve breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root serv-, from Latin servio (“serve”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.