Serves

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /sɝvz/

Definitions

1. Carries out tasks or roles as required ; offers food or drink to others ; sends a ball into play in games like tennis or volleyball
2. Acts in an official or helpful capacity ; supplies meals or refreshments ; initiates play by hitting the ball to the opponent
3. Fulfills a purpose or obligation ; presents food or beverages for consumption ; strikes the ball from a designated position to start a rally

Etymology: The verb "serve" has a striking pair of possible roots, and the Latin "servus" at its heart meant "slave" or "servant" before it ever meant helping or delivering a meal. Latin "serviō" meant to be a slave, and only later stretched to "serve" in a broader sense. The word passed into Middle English as "serven" through Old French "servir," so the sense of service and servitude came into English together. Scholars disagree about where "servus" itself comes from. One suggestion is that it was borrowed from Etruscan, the language of the people who lived in pre-Roman Italy, and Etruscan personal names containing a similar form have been cited as support. The other suggestion is an older Proto-Indo-European root meaning "watch over, protect," which would give the word a more protective, guardian-like origin than a plainly servile one. The sporting sense of "serve" in tennis, where a player puts the ball into play, and the sense of supplying food at a table, both grew out of the same basic idea of attending to someone else's needs.

Synonyms: provides, delivers, supplies, furnishes, presents

Antonyms: receives, takes, withholds