<B>serum, </B>noun, pl. <B>-rums</B> or <B>-ra.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the clear, pale-yellow liquid of the blood that separates from the clot when blood coagulates. <DD><B> 2. </B>a liquid used to prevent or cure a disease, usually obtained from the blood of an animal that has been made immune to the disease. Polio vaccine and diphtheria antitoxin are serums. <BR> <I>Ex. Such serums, containing substances that will fight the particular diseases, are used for immunization (Sidonie M. Gruenberg).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>any watery liquid in animals. Lymph is a serum. <DD><B> 4. </B>the watery substance of plants. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Obsolete.) whey. </DL>
<A NAME="serumal">
<B>serumal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, or having to do with, or like a serum. </DL>
<A NAME="serumalbumin">
<B>serum albumin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the albumin found in blood serum. It is the largest component of blood plasma and is a substitute for plasma. </DL>
<B>serum globulin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the globulin found in blood serum. </DL>
<A NAME="serumhepatitis">
<B>serum hepatitis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> hepatitis caused by a virus that is carried by human blood, often accompanied by jaundice: hepatitis B. <BR> <I>Ex. During World War II ... serum hepatitis was transmitted through plasma to many persons in the armed forces (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="serumsickness">
<B>serum sickness,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> illness from an abnormal sensitivity to an injection of animal serum. </DL>
<A NAME="serumtherapy">
<B>serumtherapy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the treatment of disease by the injection of the serum of immunized animals. </DL>
<B>servable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be served. </DL>
<A NAME="serval">
<B>serval, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an African wildcat that has a brownish-yellow coat with black spots, long legs, large ears, and a ringed tail. </DL>
<A NAME="servant">
<B>servant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person employed in a household. Cooks and nursemaids are servants. (SYN) domestic. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person employed by another or others. Policemen and firemen are public servants. (SYN) employee. <DD><B> 3. </B>a person devoted to any service. Ministers are called the servants of God. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) Fire and water be good servants, but bad masters (John Clarke).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(formerly) a slave. <BR> <I>Ex. Why don't we teach our servants to read? (Harriet Beecher Stowe).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="servantless">
<B>servantless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having no servant. <BR> <I>Ex. ... with all the mechanised comfort of the servantless American way of life (Manchester Guardian).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="servantship">
<B>servantship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the condition of being a servant. </DL>
<A NAME="serve">
<B>serve, </B>verb, <B>served,</B> <B>serving,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to be a servant; give service; work; perform duties. <BR> <I>Ex. He served as butler.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to perform official or public duties. <BR> <I>Ex. to serve in Congress. My father left work for three weeks to serve on a jury. He had served three years in the army.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to wait at table; bring food or drink to guests. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) to be useful; be what is needed; be of use. <BR> <I>Ex. Boxes served as seats. A flat stone served as a table. Short greeting serves in time of strife (Scott).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) to be favorable or suitable, as wind, weather, or an occasion. <BR> <I>Ex. The ship will sail when the time and tide serve. We must take the current when it serves. Or lose our ventures (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to start play by hitting the ball in tennis and similar games. <DD><B> 7. </B>to act as server at Mass. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to be a servant of; give service to; work for or in. <BR> <I>Ex. to serve customers in a store. The slave served his master. Good citizens serve their country. In the soul Are many lesser faculties that serve Reason as chief (Milton).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to honor and obey; worship. <BR> <I>Ex. to serve God.</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>to wait on at table; bring food or drink to. <BR> <I>Ex. The waiter served us.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to put (food or drink) on the table. <BR> <I>Ex. The waiter served the soup. Dinner is served. They did not expect to sleep in hammocks, clean their messes ... or serve up their meals (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>to supply with something needed; supply; furnish. <BR> <I>Ex. The dairy serves us with milk. The pump ... that serves water to his garden (John Evelyn).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to supply enough for. <BR> <I>Ex. One pie will serve six persons.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to help; aid. <BR> <I>Ex. Let me know if I can serve you in any way.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) to be favorable or suitable to; satisfy; answer the requirements of. <BR> <I>Ex. If fortune serve me, I'll requite this kindness (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Figurative.) to be useful to; fulfill. <BR> <I>Ex. This will serve my purpose. My stomach serves me instead of a clock (Jonathan Swift).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>to treat; reward. <BR> <I>Ex. They served me unfairly. I could ... deprive him of all his possessions and serve him as he served me (W. H. Hudson).</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>to pass; spend; go through. <BR> <I>Ex. He served a term as ambassador. [She] will be released from the Federal Reformatory ... her ten-year sentence served (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 10a. </B>to deliver (an order from a court, a writ, or the like). <DD><B> b. </B>to present (with an order, as from a court). <BR> <I>Ex. He was served with a notice to appear in court.</I> <DD><B> 11. </B>to put (the ball) in play by hitting it in tennis and similar games. <DD><B> 12. </B>to operate or be a member of the crew that operates (a cannon, machine gun, or other such mechanism). <DD><B> 13. </B>(Nautical.) to bind or wind (a rope or cable) with small cord to strengthen or protect it. <DD><B> 14. </B>to mate with (a female animal); cover. <BR> <I>Ex. Female buffaloes can be served during April, May, and June and will calve during February to April (Science Journal).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> in tennis, badminton, and similar games: <DD><B> 1. </B>the act or way of serving. <BR> <I>Ex. And an innovation this year was a so-called tennis clinic to give the spectators a better idea of ... different types of serves, volleys, lobs (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a player's turn to serve. <DD><B> 3. </B>the ball, shuttlecock, or other object served. <BR> <I>Ex. The serve fell over the line and was out of play.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>serve one right,</B> </I>to be just what one deserves. <BR> <I>Ex. Workhouse funeral--serve him right! (Dickens). As far as I am concerned, that will only serve the brats right (Saturday Review).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="server">
<B>server, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who serves. <DD><B> 2. </B>a tray for dishes and the like, such as a salver. <DD><B> 3. </B>any one of various pieces of tableware for serving food, usually a spatula. <BR> <I>Ex. a cake or pie server.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>an attendant who serves the celebrant at low Mass. <BR> <I>Ex. The interview was like a ritual between priest and server (Graham Greene).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>the player who puts the ball in play in tennis and similar games. </DL>
<A NAME="servery">
<B>servery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B> <B>=butler's pantry.</B></DL>
