Serve

Serve, sėrv, v.t. to be a servant to, to work for and obey: to attend or wait upon: to work for: to obey: to be subservient or subordinate to: to wait upon at table, &c.: to do duty for: to treat, behave towards: to render worship to: to aid by good offices: to minister to a priest at mass: to comply with: to requite: to handle, manipulate: to furnish: (naut.) to bind with small cord: (law) to deliver or present formally: to furnish: to cover, of stallions, &c.: to deliver the ball in tennis.—v.i. to be employed as a servant, to discharge any regular duty: to be in subjection: to suffice, to avail, to be suitable or favourable.—n. in tennis, the act of the first player in striking the ball, or the style in which this is done.—ns. Ser′vage (obs.), servitude: the service of a lover; Ser′ver, one who serves: an attendant on the priest at the celebration of the Eucharist: the player who strikes the tennis-ball first: a salver, any utensil for distributing or helping at table.—Serve an office, to discharge the duties of an office; Serve a process or writ, to formally communicate a process or writ to the person to whom it is addressed; Serve an attachment, to levy such a writ on the person or goods by seizure; Serve an execution, to levy an execution on the person or goods by seizure; Serve a sentence, to undergo the punishment prescribed by a judicial sentence; Serve one a trick, to play a trick on one; Serve one out, to take revenge on some one; Serve one right, to treat one as he deserves; Serve one's time, to complete one's apprenticeship; Serve out, to deal or distribute; Serve the purpose of, to answer adequately an end for which something else is designed; Serve the turn, to suffice for one's immediate purpose or need; Serve time, to undergo a period of imprisonment, &c.; Serve up, to bring to table. [Fr. servir—L. servīre, to serve.]