servo

[ sur-voh ]

/ ˈsɜr voʊ /

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adjective

acting as part of a servomechanism: servo amplifier.

pertaining to or having to do with servomechanisms: servo engineer.

noting the action of certain mechanisms, as brakes, that are set in operation by other mechanisms but which themselves augment the force of that action by the way in which they operate.

noun, plural ser·vos.

Informal. servomechanism.

verb (used with object), ser·voed, ser·vo·ing.

to connect (a mechanism) to another as a servomechanism.

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Origin of servo

1945–50; independent use of servo-, taken as an adj., or shortening of words formed with it

Other definitions for servo (2 of 2)

servo-

a combining form used in the names of devices or operations that employ a servomechanism: servocontrol.

Origin of servo-

Extracted from servomotor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use servo in a sentence

With slow precision he set the servo fixes on the huge gray hulk looming up in the viewer, and then snapped the switches sharply.
Derelict|Alan Edward Nourse
She stared at Frank Nineteen and the big servo stared at her and we heard a kind of trembling whirr from both of them.
The Love of Frank Nineteen|David Carpenter Knight
Around noon the next day the big servo checked in, signed the register and headed straight for 22A.
The Love of Frank Nineteen|David Carpenter Knight
Half an hour later the big servo came in, picked up his refuel receipt, said good-bye politely and left through the inner airlock.
The Love of Frank Nineteen|David Carpenter Knight

"I felt an immediate overload of power in my DX circuit," the servo-pilot confessed.
The Love of Frank Nineteen|David Carpenter Knight

British Dictionary definitions for servo (1 of 2)

servo¹

/ (ˈsɜːvəʊ) /

adjective

(prenominal) of, relating to, forming part of, or activated by a servomechanismservo brakes

noun plural -vos

informal short for servomechanism

Word Origin for servo

see servomotor

British Dictionary definitions for servo (2 of 2)

servo²

/ (ˈsɜːvəʊ) /

noun plural -vos

Australian informal a service station

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