I. ˈsərvənt, ˈsə̄v-, ˈsəiv-, dial ˈsärv- or ˈsȧv- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from present participle of servir to serve — more at serve
1. : a person bound to do the bidding of a master or superior : one that must work for another and obey him: as
a. : one that performs duties about the person or home of a master or employer : a personal or domestic attendant
b. : a person in the employ and subject to the direction of an individual or company : a wage-earning employee
c. : something (as an animal, tool, or machine) that serves the purposes of another : an object or device used as an instrument
organization and machinery, which should be our servants and not our masters, demand we should adapt ourselves to them — J.B.Priestley
electricity, this marvelous servant that turns factory wheels — Leonard Engel
make atomic energy a servant of man
2. : an adherent or agent of a god or of the Deity
3. obsolete : an avowed suitor for a woman's affections : one that pays court to her or dances attendance on her ; also : paramour
4. servants plural , obsolete : a troupe of actors under the patronage of an English king or nobleman
his majesty's servants
5. : a government official considered as the servant of his sovereign or of the public
a servant of her majesty the queen
: public servant — compare civil servant
6. : slave
7. : a member of Jehovah's Witnesses who functions in capacities like those of a clergyman
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. obsolete : to make subject : subordinate
2. obsolete : to furnish with a servant
3. obsolete : to act as servant — used in the phrase to servant it