Serve vs Ask - What's the difference?
serve | ask |
(sports) An act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games.
* 1961 January 13, Marshall Smith, From Waif to a Winner, the Clown of the Courts'', '' ,
* 1996 , Steve Boga, Badminton ,
* 2009 , Mihnea Moldoveanu, Roger L. Martin, Diaminds: Decoding the Mental Habits of Successful Thinkers ,
(chiefly, Australia) A portion of food or drink, a serving.
* 2004 , Susanna Holt, Fitness Food: The Essential Guide to Eating Well and Performing Better , Murdoch Books Australia,
* 2007 , Verity Campbell, Turkey , Lonely Planet,
* 2008 , Michael E. Cichorski, Maximum Asthma Control: The Revolutionary 3-Step Anti Asthma Program ,
* 2011 , Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Health Committee, Alcohol: First Report of Session 2009-10 , Volume 2,
* 2012 , Lesley Campbell, Alan L. Rubin, Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies , Australian Edition,
To provide a service.
#(lb) To be a formal servant for (a god or deity); to worship in an official capacity.
#*1889 , (Philip Schaff), translating , XIV:
#*:And yet this is not the office of a Priest, but of Him whom the Priest should serve .
#(lb) To be a servant for; to work for, to be employed by.
#*1716 , (Joseph Addison),
#*:And, truly, Mrs Abigail, I must needs say, I served' my master contentedly while he was living, but I will ' serve no man living (that is, no man that is not living) without double wages.
#*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=
#*1979 , (Bob Dylan), (Gotta Serve Somebody) :
#*:You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief, / They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief / But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
#(lb) To wait upon (someone) at table; to set food and drink in front of, to help (someone) to food, meals etc.
#*2007 , Larry McMurty, When the Light Goes
#*:That night Annie served him grilled halibut and English peas, plus tomatoes, of course, and a salad.
#(lb) To be a servant or worker; to perform the duties of a servant or employee; to render service.
#*1673 , (John Milton), (On His Blindness) :
#*:They also serve who only stand and wait.
#(lb) To set down (food or drink) on the table to be eaten; to bring (food, drink) to a person.
#*2009 , Dominic A Pacyga, Chicago: A Biography , p.195:
#*:About twenty minutes after waiters served the soup, a guest got up and left.
*1924 ,
*:I mock them all who have served me ill of late and chiefly this cheat of Judah, whose temple we have plundered and whose golden vessels are my wash-pots.
*, III.7:
*:That gentle Lady, whom I loue and serue .
(lb) To be effective.
#(lb) To be useful to; to meet the needs of.
#*2010 October 12, Lloyd Marcus, (The Guardian)
#*:So, while the sycophantic liberal media calls any and all opposition to Obama racist, they give Obama carte blanche to exploit his race whenever it serves his purpose.
#(lb) To have a given use or purpose; to function (for) something or to do something.
#*2011 January 27, "Borgata bust", (The Economist)
#*:The bust also served to remind the public that the Mafia is not harmless.
#*{{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
, author=, volume=100, issue=2, page=171
, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= #(lb) To usefully take the place (as), (instead) of something else.
#*
#*:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.
#*2010 April 20, "Not up in the air", (The Economist)
#*:Maybe the volcanic eruption will serve as a wake-up call to such companies that they need to modernise their risk management.
To deliver a document.
#To officially deliver (a legal notice, summons etc.).
#*2008 April, Pamela Colloff, The Fire That Time , Texas Monthly; Austin: Emmis Publishing, p.158:
#*:On the morning of February 28, 1993, ATF agents gathered at a staging area near Waco and prepared to serve a search warrant on the Branch Davidians' residence.
#To make legal service upon (a person named in a writ, summons, etc.)
#:
*2007 , Rob Antoun, Women's Tennis Tactics , p.2:
*:In women's tennis the need to serve more effectively has become greater in recent years because the game is being played more aggressively, and rallies are becoming shorter as a result.
(lb) To copulate with (of male animals); to .
*1996 , Puck Bonnier et al., Dairy Cattle Husbandry , Agromisa Foundation 2004
*:Conception means that a cow is served by a bull and that she becomes pregnant.
(lb) To be in military service.
*2007 May 16, Peter Walker, (The Guardian)
*:Some reports suggested he would quit the army if he was not allowed to serve abroad in a war zone.
*1864 , (Horace Greeley),
*:John T. Greble, of the 2d regular artillery, was likewise killed instantly by a ball through the head, while serving his gun in the face of the foe.
(lb) To work through (a given period of time in prison, a sentence).
*2010 December 1, Tania Branigan, (The Guardian)
*:The Guangzhou Daily reported that Shi Chunlong, 20, who organised the incident, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Hou Bin, who pulled out of the attack after helping to plan it, will serve 12 years.
(lb) To wind spun yarn etc. tightly around (a rope or cable, etc.) so as to protect it from chafing or from the weather.
To request (information, or an answer to a question).
To put forward (a question) to be answered.
To interrogate or enquire of (a person).
* Bible, John ix. 21
To request or petition; usually with for .
* Bible, Matthew vii. 7
To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.
* Addison
To invite.
To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons.
(figuratively) To take (a person's situation) as an example.
*
An act or instance of asking.
* 2005 , Laura Fredricks, The ask :
Something asked or asked for; a request.
* 2008 , Doug Fields, Duffy Robbins, Speaking to Teenagers :
An asking price.
An eft; newt.
* 1876 , S. Smiles, Scottish Naturalist :
A lizard.
As nouns the difference between serve and ask
is that serve is an act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play in various games while ask is an act or instance of asking.As verbs the difference between serve and ask
is that serve is To provide a service.ask is to request (information, or an answer to a question).As a proper noun Ask is
the first male human, according to the Poetic Edda.serve
English
(wikipedia serve)Noun
(en noun)- Whose serve is it?
page 99,
- He had no power serve of his own, no backhand, no volley, no lob, no idea of pace or tactics.
page viii,
- The first serve of the game is from the right half court to the half diagonally opposite.
page 31,
- Against a serve of the calibre of McEnroe?s, an opponent will try to anticipate the ball?s direction and lean either to the left or to the right, depending on where he feels the server will go.
page 23,
- The night before your event, base your evening meal on high-carbohydrate foods with a small serve of lean protein.
page 142,
- Come here for a cappuccino that could hold its own on Via Veneto in Rome (€2) and a serve of their crunchy fresh cheese börek .
page 100,
- Reintroduce protein; add a small serve of salmon, tuna or sardines every second day (tinned variety or fresh).
page 189,
- Smirnoff Appleback was a finished drink, comprising a 50ml serve of Smirnoff, with ice and lemonade or ginger ale and equating to 1.9 units.
page 117,
- One serve of carbohydrates is approximately equal to a slice of bread, a piece of fruit, third of a cup of cooked rice, half a cup of grains, cereals, starchy vegetables or cooked pasta, 200 grams of plain yoghurt, or 300 millilitres of milk.
Synonyms
* (act of putting the ball or shuttlecock in play) service * (portion of food) See servingAntonyms
* receiveVerb
(serv)Well-connected Brains, passage=Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work. The achievement will transform neuroscience and serve as the starting point for asking questions we could not otherwise have answered,
The American Conflict
Synonyms
* (to be a servant to) attend, bestand, wait onDerived terms
* serve somebody right * server * servery * service * serviced * servileReferences
Anagrams
* * * 1000 English basic words ----ask
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) asken, from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- I asked her age.
- to ask a question
- I'm going to ask this lady for directions.
- He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
- to ask for a second helping at dinner
- to ask for help with homework
- Ask , and it shall be given you.
- What price are you asking for the house?
- An exigence of state asks a much longer time to conduct a design to maturity.
- Don't ask them to the wedding.
- (Fuller)
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See * Pronouncing ask as /æks/ is a common example of metathesis and a feature of some varieties of English, notably African American Vernacular English (AAVE). * The action expressed by the verb ask'' can also be expressed by the noun-verb combination ''pose a question'' (confer the parallel in German between ''fragen'' and ''eine Frage stellen ).Derived terms
* ask after * ask around * ask for * ask in * ask out * ask over * ask round * for the asking * no questions asked * outaskNoun
(en noun)- To ask for a gift is a privilege, a wonderful expression of commitment to and ownership of the organization. Getting a yes to an ask can be a rush, but asking for the gift can and should be just as rewarding.
- Communication researchers call this the foot-in-the-door syndrome. Essentially it's based on the observation that people who respond positively to a small “ask'” are more likely to respond to a bigger “' ask ” later on.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) aske, arske, from (etyl) .Alternative forms
*Noun
(en noun)- He looked at the beast. It was not an eel. It was very like an ask .
