📒 to give somebody food or drink, for example at a restaurant or during a meal
- serve (something) Breakfast is served between 7 and 10 a.m.
- When do you stop serving hot food?
- Pour the sauce over the pasta and serve immediately.
📒 to be enough for somebody/something
- This dish will serve four hungry people.
📒 to help a customer or sell them something in a shop
- Are you being served?
- The bar staff spend more time chatting to friends than serving customers.
- She was serving behind the counter.
📒 to be useful to somebody in achieving or satisfying something
- These experiments serve no useful purpose.
- Most of their economic policies serve the interests of big business.
- How can we best serve the needs of future generations?
📒 to provide an area or a group of people with a product or service
- serve somebody/something The centre will serve the whole community.
- serve somebody/something with something The town is well served with buses and major road links.
📒 to work or perform duties for a person, an organization, a country, etc.; to spend a period of time in a particular job
- serve as something He served as a captain in the army.
- She was elected to serve as secretary of the local party.
- to serve as president/director/chairman
📒 to be suitable for a particular use, especially when nothing else is available
- The sofa will serve as a bed for a night or two.
- The Declaration served primarily as a propaganda piece.
- The texts ultimately serve as springboards for the artists' imagination.
📒 to have a particular effect or result
- serve as something The judge said the punishment would serve as a warning to others.
- The highly visible ruins serve as a reminder of the building's history.
- There are several women in the field who have served as role models.
📒 to spend a period of time in prison
- prisoners serving life sentences
- She is serving two years for theft.
- He has served time (= been to prison) before.
📒 to give or send somebody an official document, especially one that orders them to appear in court
- serve something (on somebody) to serve a writ/summons on somebody
- serve somebody with something to serve somebody with a writ/summons
📒 to start playing by throwing the ball into the air and hitting it
- Who's serving?
- serve something She served an ace.
📒 to perform two roles or functions at the same time
- This device can pull double duty as a decent laptop and an adequate tablet.
- She deserves credit for serving double duty as a host and performer.
📒 people will be dealt with, seen, etc. strictly in the order in which they arrive
- Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis.
📒 if I remember correctly
📒 used to say that something that has happened to somebody is their own fault and they deserve it
- Left you, did she? It serves you right for being so selfish.
📒 to be useful for a particular purpose or period of time
📒 to support two different parties, principles, etc. at the same time