serve

serve
verb
1 give sb food or drink
ADVERB
▪ immediately
▪

Pour the sauce over the pasta and serve immediately.

VERB + SERVE
▪ be ready to
▪

Cover and chill the salad until ready to serve.

PREPOSITION
▪ to
▪

They served a wonderful meal to more than 50 delegates.

▪ with
▪

The delegates were served with a wonderful meal.

▪

Serve the lamb with new potatoes and green beans.

PHRASES
▪ dinner is served
▪

‘Dinner is served!’ Katie announced.

▪ serve sth chilled, serve sth cold, serve sth hot
▪

The quiche can be served hot or cold.

2 work
ADVERB
▪ faithfully, loyally, well
▪

She served the family faithfully for many years (= as a servant).

▪ better
▪

Let us know how we can better serve your needs.

▪ currently
▪

She is currently serving as special adviser to the American Ambassador.

▪ previously
VERB + SERVE
▪ continue to
PREPOSITION
▪ as
▪

I shall continue to serve as a trustee.

▪ in
▪

She served in the medical corps.

▪

to serve in the army/military/navy

▪ on
▪

I currently serve on the Board of Directors.

▪

to serve on the committee/jury/panel

▪ under
▪

He served under President Reagan in the 1980s.

PHRASES
▪ if memory serves you, if memory serves (you) correctly, if memory serves you right
▪

If memory serves me right, we arrived on June 22, which was a Tuesday.

▪ serve in a … capacity, serve in this/that capacity
▪

She has served in an advisory capacity for a number of groups.

▪ serve on active duty (esp. AmE)
▪

He served on active duty in the US Marine Corps.

▪ serve with distinction
▪

He served with distinction in the First World War.

3 be useful
ADVERB
▪ merely, only, simply
▪

This only served to complicate the situation further.

▪ mainly, mostly, primarily
▪

The Declaration served primarily as a propaganda piece.

▪ well
▪

This strategy has always served him well.

PREPOSITION
▪ as
▪

The texts ultimately serve as springboards for the artists' imagination.

Serve is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑cafe, ↑clinic, ↑dining room, ↑felon, ↑inmate, ↑landlord, ↑lift, ↑main, ↑officer, ↑pastor, ↑recipe, ↑restaurant, ↑servant, ↑soldier, ↑staff, ↑troops, ↑veteran, ↑waiter, waitress
Serve is used with these nouns as the object: ↑ace, ↑alcohol, ↑beer, ↑buffet, ↑cause, ↑church, ↑client, ↑clientele, ↑cocktail, ↑congregation, ↑country, ↑crown, ↑cuisine, ↑customer, ↑dessert, ↑detention, ↑dish, ↑drink, ↑end, ↑fare, ↑fault, ↑food, ↑function, ↑god, ↑guest, ↑interest, ↑justice, ↑king, ↑liquor, ↑lord, ↑lunch, ↑mankind, ↑market, ↑master, ↑menu, ↑nation, ↑need, ↑niche, ↑notice, ↑profession, ↑public, ↑purpose, ↑refreshment, ↑role, ↑seafood, ↑sentence, ↑snack, ↑soup, ↑stint, ↑summons, ↑suspension, ↑tea, ↑term, ↑turkey, ↑warrant, ↑wine, ↑writ

Collocations dictionary. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Serve — Serve, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Served}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Serving}.] [OE. serven, servien, OF. & F. servir, fr. L. servire; akin to servus a servant or slave, servare to protect, preserve, observe; cf. Zend har to protect, haurva protecting. Cf.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • serve — → serf ● serf, serve adjectif (latin servus, esclave) Relatif à l état des serfs : Des hommes de condition serve. Littéraire. Qui fait preuve d une soumission complète à l égard d autrui. ● serf, serve (homonymes) adjectif (latin servus, esclave) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • serve — [sɜːv ǁ sɜːrv] verb 1. [transitive] COMMERCE to supply customers with a particular product or service or with something they need: • The firm plans to open a London office to serve clients with investments and businesses in Europe. • JAL Group… …   Financial and business terms

  • serve — [sʉrv] vt. served, serving [ME serven < OFr servir < L servire, to serve < servus, servant, slave: see SERF] 1. to work for as a servant 2. a) to do services or duties for; give service to; aid; assist; help b) to give obedience and… …   English World dictionary

  • serve — vt served, serv·ing 1: to deliver, publish, or execute (notice or process) as required by law no notice of any such request was ever served on the husband National Law Journal 2: to make legal service upon (the person named in a process): inform… …   Law dictionary

  • serve — late 12c., to render habitual obedience to, from O.Fr. servir to serve, from L. servire to serve, originally be a slave, related to servus slave, perhaps from an Etruscan word (Cf. Etruscan proper names Servi, Serve). Meaning to attend to (a… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Serve — Serve, v. i. 1. To be a servant or a slave; to be employed in labor or other business for another; to be in subjection or bondage; to render menial service. [1913 Webster] The Lord shall give thee rest . . . from the hard bondage wherein thou… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • serve — ► VERB 1) perform duties or services for. 2) be employed as a member of the armed forces. 3) spend (a period) in office, in an apprenticeship, or in prison. 4) present food or drink to. 5) attend to (a customer in a shop). 6) be of use in… …   English terms dictionary

  • serve — [v1] aid, help; supply arrange, assist, attend to, be of assistance, be of use, care for, deal, deliver, dish up*, distribute, do for, give, handle, hit, minister to, nurse, oblige, play, present, provide, provision, set out, succor, wait on,… …   New thesaurus

  • Serve — may refer to: * Serve (tennis) * Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment * Providing a non material good, as in the work of a servant * Supplying customers with food and drink, as in the work of a food server * Delivering a legal or… …   Wikipedia

  • serve up — (something) to offer something. The TV miniseries will be serving up five hour long programs. Hitchcock served up a pitch that Perez hit over the fence for a home run. Filmgoers demand realism, and Lee serves it up without flash or tricks in his… …   New idioms dictionary

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