serve
To provide a service (or, by extension, a product, especially food or drink).
Verb 4 meanings
To provide a service (or, by extension, a product, especially food or drink).
To be effective.
To deliver a document in such a way that the recipient can be legally considered to be informed of it.
“a document served on the tenant”
To lead off with the first delivery over the net in tennis, volleyball, ping pong, badminton etc.
Noun 3 meanings
An act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games.
“Whose serve is it?”
A portion of food or drink, a serving.
An impressive presentation (especially of a person's appearance).
“That white eyeliner is such a serve.”
Etymology
From Middle English serven, from Old French servir, from Latin serviō (“be a slave; serve”), from Latin servus (“slave; servant”), which perhaps derives from Etruscan (compare Etruscan proper names 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌉 (servi), 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌄 (serve)), or from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“watch over, protect”).
Similar and opposite words
SERVE at a glance
SERVE has 5 letters and scores 8 points in Scrabble (S 1 + E 1 + R 1 + V 4 + E 1) and 9 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #1,460 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with serve
All rhymesOne letter away
- NERVE8
- SERGE6
- SERVO8
- VERVE11
- SERRE5
- PERVE10
- KERVE12
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