server

American  

[sur-ver] / ˈsɜr vər /

noun

• servers
  plural

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• servers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of server

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

Explanation

You can refer to the person who delivers your food in a restaurant as a server. Be sure to leave your server a generous tip! The term server has become a very common synonym for "waiter" or "waitress." It's preferable to talk about the friendly server who takes your order, since the word isn't specific to their gender but works for anyone who serves food. Another meaning of server is the computer hardware in a network of linked computers that allows those devices to work properly.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

server servers

It ties residual value to the life of one model, and model lifespans are shorter and less predictable than server lifespans.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

Energy-guzzling server farms could also help solve renewables' issue of curtailment, or the over-production of energy.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

The poor server desperately dug for his life in the lost and found cabinet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Shares of server maker Super Micro Computer rose 19% to $37.61 as the AI boom generated strong fiscal fourth-quarter sales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Holly was our server quite regularly, and she wasn’t exactly a card-carrying member of the Daisy and Holmesy fan club, possibly on account of our coupon-driven Applebee’s strategy and limited resources for tipping.

From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green

Instead, 10,000 people installed the app within its first few hours, overwhelming its servers.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

When Etched needed help designing servers and racks to integrate its chips into one big system, the company in 2024 recruited Brian Loiler, a top systems engineer who spent nearly 23 years at Nvidia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Chinese tech giants seeking to take advantage of the interest in OpenClaw have been offering simplified installation and affordable coding plans to help users host its agents on cloud servers.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

The technology giant reported Thursday that its AI revenue, which includes AI-optimized servers and personal computers, rose 60% from the previous year and now makes up 35% of overall revenue.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

The boy could hear the clatter of the servers clearing the meal.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

Related Words

• flight attendant
• hostess
• stewardess
• waiter
• waitress