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Glite Dictionary
to drop one's serve

to drop one's serve

6.9
Lose a game in tennis when you are the player who starts the point
  • phrasal verb
  • Jargon
translation icon : perder el servicio
  • It was hardly surprising when he delivered three double faults and dropped serve to go down 3-5.

Examples

  • During the final set, she dropped her serve allowing her opponent to take the lead.

  • After a series of mistakes, he finally dropped his serve, which cost him the match.

  • Despite his strong start, he dropped his serve in the crucial moments of the game.

Antonyms

win
792 1.0

A victory in a contest or game

Surface Forms

drop one's serve infinitive
dropped one's serve past
dropped one's serve past participle
dropping one's serve present participle
drops one's serve third person singular

Morphology

drop + one + serve

The meaning is directly compositional: 'drop' in a sporting context can mean 'lose' and 'one's serve' refers to the game in which the player is serving, so a learner who knows both words can infer 'to lose a game while serving.' This sports-usage construction (e.g. 'lose your serve') is common across languages and sports discourse, making the expression predictable for a B1 learner familiar with the constituent meanings.

Etymology

Drop one's serve comes from tennis. A serve is the shot that starts a game, so to drop your serve means to 'lose the game while you are serving', which is why the phrase means 'to lose a game when you are serving'.