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

That risk doesn’t exist when the “third party” is a statistical model running on a server.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Rising tech capital expenditure is boosting AI server makers, with Dell’s fiscal 2028 AI server orders estimated at $68 billion.

From Barron's • Apr. 6, 2026

Although it appeared to acknowledge the server had been taken down, it said that was necessary for the backup to be restored.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

Meanwhile, Intel’s server CPUs are seeing surging interest amid an industry shift toward inference, or the process of running artificial-intelligence models.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 2, 2026

The twins were near catatonic when the server finally brought the check, pausing momentarily as if he had just realized they were a table full of kids.

From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss

Related Words

• flight attendant
• hostess
• stewardess
• waiter
• waitress