Service

Service, sėr′vis, n. condition or occupation of a servant: a working for another: duty required in any office: military or naval duty: any liturgical form or office, public religious worship, religious ceremonial: a musical composition for devotional purposes: labour, assistance, or kindness to another: benefit: profession of respect: order of dishes at table, or a set of them: official function, use, employment: that which is furnished: a tree of rarely more than 30 feet high, with leaves and flowers like the Rowan-tree, but the former downy beneath—also Sorb.—ns. Serviceabil′ity, Ser′viceableness.—adj. Ser′viceable, able or willing to serve: advantageous: useful: capable of rendering long service, durable.—adv. Ser′viceably.—ns. Ser′vice-berr′y, a berry of the service-tree: (Scot.) the fruit of the white beam: a North American shrub, the shadbush; Ser′vice-book, a book of forms of religious service: a prayer-book; Ser′vice-box, a form of expansion joint, used in street-mains of steam-heating systems; Ser′vice-clean′er, a portable air-compressing pump and receiver for service-pipes; Ser′vice-line, one of two lines drawn across the court twenty-one feet from the net, in lawn-tennis; Ser′vice-mag′azine, a magazine for storing ammunition for immediate use; Ser′vice-pipe, a smaller pipe from a main-pipe to a dwelling; Ser′vice-tree, a tree of the pear family, with close-grained wood and an edible fruit; Ser′ving-mall′et, a piece of wood having a groove on one side to fit the convexity of a rope; Din′ner-ser′vice, a full set of dishes for dinner; Tā′ble-ser′vice, a set of utensils for the table; Wild′-ser′vice, a small species of service-tree, cultivated in England for its fruit and wood.—Service of an heir (Scots law), a proceeding before a jury to determine the heir of a person deceased.—Active service, service of a soldier, &c., in the field, against an enemy; At your service, a phrase of civility; Have seen service, to have been in active military service: to have been put to hard use; Plain service, in Anglican usage, an office which is simply read. [Fr.,—L. servitium.]