server
[sur-ver]
- a person who serves.
- a person who waits on tables; a waiter or waitress.
- something that serves or is used in serving, as a salver.
- a broad fork, spoon, or spatula for dishing out and serving individual portions of food, as vegetables, cake, or pie.
- Ecclesiastical. an attendant on the priest at Mass, who arranges the altar, makes the responses, etc.
- (in tennis, badminton, handball, etc.) the player who puts the ball or shuttlecock in play.
- a computer that makes services, as access to data files, programs, and peripheral devices, available to workstations on a network.Compare client(def 5), file server.
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Origin of server
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
assistantattendantslavehelperwaiterhostesswaitressstewardesshelpdependenthirelingdomesticserfminionretainerdrudgemenialserverhostporterExamples from the Web for server
Contemporary Examples
“Many chains have nutrition info on their menu, Web site or available from your server if you ask,” says Dubost.
Then the server would respond by echoing, “Got it, the secret word is 'Mendax'.”
“This machine is a server, do not power it down,” the message reads.
The server said the kitchen staff was exclusively black, but that the “front of house” staff was about half black, half white.
In this clip, she is infuriated over a server touching her wine glass with her thumb, and gives her a piece of her mind.
Historical Examples
Having offered to act as server, Pierre repeated the "Confiteor."
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
Before dishes are put on, the Steward enters first, then the Server.
The ball is then put in play by the server, who may hit the ball but once.
Games for the Playground, Home, School and GymnasiumJessie H. Bancroft
A "fault" is the failure of the server to send the ball into the proper court.
The priest closed his book and went off, followed by the server.
UlyssesJames Joyce
server
- a person who serves
- mainly RC Church a person who acts as acolyte or assists the priest at Mass
- something that is used in serving food and drink
- the player who serves in racket games
- computing a computer or program that supplies data or resources to other machines on a network
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for server
n.
late 14c., agent noun from serve (v.). Computer sense by 1992.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
server
[sûr′vər]
- 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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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
server
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.