server

[ sur-ver ]

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 al·tar serv·er [awl, -ter sur-ver]. 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. Compare client ( def 5 ), file server.

server

/ 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

server

/ 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.

server

1. Computer or software that performs administration or coordination functions within a network .

Word History and Origins

Origin of server¹

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

Example Sentences

Domain name servers, or DNS, is an important part of how the internet works.

From TechCrunch

The messages have since been removed through a server update.

From Ars Technica

Rather than sending data directly to the server being targeted, machines participating in an attack first send the data to a third party in the form of a request for a certain service.

From Ars Technica

This one will require ad buyers to log into a separate site that lives on separate servers to protect Walmart’s data.

From Digiday

To make the e-commerce business run, Amazon had to create an array of computer data centers, stacked with rows upon rows of servers, to make sure the online marketplace could handle the growing business.

From Washington Post

From the link, the file appears to be hosted on a mail server associated with SEA.

From The Daily Beast

Unfortunately, the site was storing all the “private” Snapchats on a web server, along with the usernames of senders.

From The Daily Beast

They found that all the information captured by the spyware was sent to a remote server in Korea.

From The Daily Beast

“Many chains have nutrition info on their menu, Web site or available from your server if you ask,” says Dubost.

From The Daily Beast

Then the server would respond by echoing, “Got it, the secret word is 'Mendax'.”

From The Daily Beast

The result was that he lost the esteem of both parties, and came to be regarded as a mere trimmer and time-server.

From Project Gutenberg

To say that, as a great moral reformer, he had no enemies, would be to say that he was a toady and a time-server.

From Project Gutenberg

In case of a let, the service or stroke counts for nothing, and the server shall serve again.

From Project Gutenberg

They wouldn't get anything out of my mail -- it got cleared off the server and stored on my laptop at home.

From Project Gutenberg

I downloaded it all and kept it on my laptop at home, which downloaded and deleted my mail from the server every sixty seconds.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• flight attendant
• hostess
• stewardess
• waiter
• waitress