Food / A2

SURV/sɜːv/

To serve is to give food or drink to someone: serve tea, serve dinner, served with rice. It also means do work for others: serve customers, serve in a shop. Service is the noun. Help is wider; serve is the set verb in restaurants and shops. Do not mix serve with service as the verb — you serve people; you do not “service tea.”

Meaning

To give food or drink to someone, or to do work for others.

Examples

• “They served tea and biscuits after the meeting.”
• “They serve breakfast until ten.”
• “A young waiter served us at the window table.”

Good to know

serve food / drink. serve customers. Noun: service. Not “service the meal” as the verb.

Topics

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