server

American  

[sur-ver] / ˈsɜr vər /

noun

1. a person who serves.

2. a person who waits on tables; a waiter or waitress.

3. something that serves or is used in serving, as a salver.

4. a broad fork, spoon, or spatula for dishing out and serving individual portions of food, as vegetables, cake, or pie.

5. Also called altar server.  Ecclesiastical. an attendant on the priest at Mass, who arranges the altar, makes the responses, etc.

6. (in tennis, badminton, handball, etc.) the player who puts the ball or shuttlecock in play.

7. Computers. a computer that makes services, as access to data files, programs, and peripheral devices, available to workstations on a network.

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server British  

/ ˈsɜːvə /

noun

1. a person who serves

2. RC Church a person who acts as acolyte or assists the priest at Mass

3. something that is used in serving food and drink

4. the player who serves in racket games

5. computing a computer or program that supplies data or resources to other machines on a network

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server Scientific  

/ sûr′vər /

1. A computer that manages centralized data storage or network communications resources. A server provides and organizes access to these resources for other computers linked to it.

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server Cultural  

1. Computer or software that performs administration or coordination functions within a network.

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Etymology

Origin of server

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; serve + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

The service takes technical measures to harden the security of its server network.

From Salon

Security is anchored in a proprietary protocol and server technology that runs entirely in RAM to ensure all data is wiped upon reboot.

From Salon

While Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Alphabet spend even more, their cloud units rent out most of the AI servers they buy, and those revenue streams are growing rapidly.

From Barron's

I turn back to the family and tell them that their server will be with them momentarily before heading back to the front.

From Literature

As focus shifts more to inference, or the process of running AI models after training, interest in central processing units for data-center servers has soared in recent months.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• flight attendant
• hostess
• stewardess
• waiter
• waitress