More definitions of "serve":
- (verb): Serve a purpose, role, or function.
Example: "This table would serve very well"
Synonyms: function
- (verb): Put the ball into play.
Example: "It was Agassi's turn to serve"
- (verb): Contribute or conduce to.
Example: "The scandal served to increase his popularity"
- (verb): Help to some food; help with food or drink.
Synonyms: help
- (verb): Work for or be a servant to.
Example: "May I serve you?"
Synonyms: attend to, wait on, attend, assist
- (verb): Be used by; as of a utility.
Synonyms: service
- (verb): Do military service.
Example: "She served in Vietnam"; "My sons never served, because they are short-sighted"
- (verb): Promote, benefit, or be useful or beneficial to.
Synonyms: serve well
- (noun): (sports) a stroke that puts the ball in play.
Synonyms: service
- (verb): Provide (usually but not necessarily food).
Example: "We serve meals for the homeless"
Synonyms: serve up, dish out, dish up, dish
- (verb): Do duty or hold offices; serve in a specific function.
Example: "He served as head of the department for three years"; "She served in Congress for two terms"
- (verb): Be sufficient; be adequate, either in quality or quantity.
Example: "Nothing else will serve"
Synonyms: suffice, do, answer
- (verb): Devote (part of) one's life or efforts to, as of countries, institutions, or ideas.
Example: "She served the art of music"; "He served the church"; "serve the country"
- (verb): Spend time in prison or in a labor camp.
Synonyms: do
- (verb): Mate with.
Example: "Male animals serve the females for breeding purposes"
Synonyms: service
Famous quotes containing the word serve:
“The conclusion suggested by these arguments might be called the paradox of theorizing. It asserts that if the terms and the general principles of a scientific theory serve their purpose, i. e., if they establish the definite connections among observable phenomena, then they can be dispensed with since any chain of laws and interpretive statements establishing such a connection should then be replaceable by a law which directly links observational antecedents to observational consequents.”
—C.G. (Carl Gustav)
“In our country today, very few children are raised to believe that their principal destiny is to serve their family, their country, or God.”
—Benjamin Spock (b. 1903)
“You need not be proud of me.... I’m only being active till you can be again—it isn’t such a great desire on my part to serve the world and I’ll fall back into habits of sloth quite easily!”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)