to serve

Examples

• All

• They're serving papers later today.

  12 Days with God (2019)

• It's so bad she had to serve him papers to be evicted from her apartment.

  Dr. Phil

• Do you wanna serve me with some papers or something?

  Perfect Strangers (1984)

• If he is out, let me know and we'll sign it and serve it right away.

  Fiction book (1990)

• We might want to serve a paper on him a little later in the day.

  Fiction book (1990)

• Do you know why we're in your home, serving you a search warrant?

  The Bling Ring (2013)

• The Information Commissioner also has the power to serve a monetary penalty notice on a data controller.

  Academic text (2011)

• And process servers have been trying to serve Miscavige for three years now.

• Foreigners thus raise jurisdictional sensitivities when they attempt to serve judicial documents within other countries' territories.

  Academic text (2017)

• The sheriff arrived early in the morning to serve the eviction notice to the tenants.

Synonyms

S

to serve notice

vsto serve

• Formal

5 6.5

To give someone an official written letter telling them about a change or end of an agreement

is the formal delivery of specific legal documents following set procedures

Antonyms

W

to withhold

210 5.1

Refuse to give something someone wants or needs

Idioms

S

to serve (someone) right

• Informal

22 7.3

A punishment that someone deserves because of their own wrong actions

S

to serve two masters

4 8.2

To try to please two people or groups who want different things and fail to please either

S

to serve someone right

• Informal

3 6.6

To get a bad result you deserve because of what you did

S

to serve the turn

• UK

1 7.9

To be good enough for a purpose for a short time

S

to serve in good stead

7.0

To be useful to someone in the future

Phrasal Verbs

S

to serve time

35 6.7

To spend time in prison as punishment for a crime

S

to serve up

34 1.4

To give food or drink to people

S

to serve alcohol

7 3.0

Provide alcohol to customers or guests

S

to serve notice

• Formal

5 6.5

To give someone an official written letter telling them about a change or end of an agreement

S

to serve well

3 3.5

Be useful to someone when they need it

S

to serve in the army

3 3.2

To be a member of a country's army for work or because the law makes you

S

to serve as a backdrop

1 4.6

To form a background that makes the main subject look better

S

to serve as a conduit

1 7.5

Act as a way to pass information between groups

D

to drop one's serve

• Jargon

6.9

Lose a game in tennis when you are the player who starts the point

S

to serve as an escort

• Formal

4.1

To go with a person like an ambassador to protect or show respect

Compounds

B

break of serve

• Jargon

5.1

A game one player wins while the opponent is serving

F

first-come-first-serve

• US

3.9

People get things in the order they arrive, with no reservations

Surface Forms

Etymology