serum 
tinct from egg-albumin. Serum globulin, the globulin 
which is foiiinl in the Mood-serum. Also called para- 
globulin and wi-inn-i-n^ In. 
serv. An abbreviation () of servant; (b) in 
phar., of the Latin serva, 'keep, preserve'; (c) 
[cap. ] of Serrian. 
servable (ser'va-bl), . [< serve 1 r- -able.] 
Capable of being served. Hiiilry. 1731. 
servaget (ser'vaj), . [< ME. serfage, < OF. 
(and F.) servage (ML. sernnjlum) = It. serraij- 
gio; < serf, serf: see serre 1 , ser/.] Servitude; 
5515 
lowed any of these servants to be punished for any offence 
whatever. 
S. Z). Smtdes, Memorials of a Southern Planter, vin. 
(o) A person hired for a specified time to do manual or 
field labor ; a laborer. 
Penalty of 40. s. a month for useing the Trade of a Join- 
er or Carpenter, not having served a seven years appren- 
ticeship and been free of the Company, except he work as 
a Servant or Journeyman with a Freeman of the Company. 
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 209. 
serve 
My affairs 
Are servanted to others. Shak. , Cor. , v. 2. 89. 
2. To furnish with one or more servants. 
Tlii' uncles and the nephew are now to be double-nerwin*- 
ed (m\g\e-servanted they were before), and those servants 
arc to be double-armed when they attend their masters 
abroad. Itichardam, Clarissa Harlowe, xxxi. (Dames.) 
servant-girl (ser'vant-gerl), n. A female ser- 
vant, or maid-servant. 
Dr. Plott, speaking of the Statutes for hiring servants, Servant-maid (ser'vant-mad), . A maid-ser- 
says that at Bloxham the carters stood with their whips vant. 
suViecfion; "service; specifically ,~the service of rn J on7"place7'anrthe" 8 hephCTd8"wifh i the^r : crooks In servant-man (s6r'vant-man), n. A male ser- 
another. Hone, Table-Book, p. 202. 
a lover. 
Servant in love and lord in mariage 
Thanne was he bothe in lordship and nervage. 
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 66. 
Aftre that the Comaynz, that weren in Scrooge in Egypt, 
felten hem self that thei weren of gret Power, the! chesen 
hem a Soudain amonges hem. Mandeville, Travels, p. 36. 
serval (ser'val), . [= F. Sp. Pg. G. servat, 
from a S. African native name (?).] The African 
tiger-cat, Felis serval. It is long-bodied and short- 
vant, or man-servant, 
(c) A person in domestic service ; 
attendant ; a domestic ; a men' 
one who has assistants under !... ~* .., , - 
head cook, or a head coachman ; an under servant is one The male tenantry summoned to do homage by the 
-- J blast of the cows' horns. 
ice; a household or personal gervantry (ser'vant-ri), n. [< servant + 
fr'ht or'he^s'a^iSr.'a Servants collectively ; a body of servants. 
who takes orders from an upper one, as an under-nurse, 
a scullery-maid, or a groom. 
A servant, with this clause, 
Makes drudgery divine : 
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws 
Makes that, and th' action, fine. 
G. Herbert, The Elixir. 
Time was, a sober Englishman would knock 
His ierrantt up, and rise by five o'clock. 
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 162. 
The servants [at a dinner-party] are not servants, but 
the before-mentioned retail tradesmen. 
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xx. 
2. One in a state of subjection. 
W. H. Russell, Diary in India, II. 205. 
servant's-call (ser'vants-kal), . A whistle or 
small horn used to call attendants : such a call 
is often found combined with a table-utensil, 
tobacco-stopper, or the like, of manufacture as 
late as the eighteenth century, 
servantship (ser'vant-ship), n. [< servant + 
-ship.'] The post, station, or relation of a ser- 
vant. 
Usurpation of senantship coincides necessarily with 
wrongful imposition of mastership. 
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xvi. 43. 
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is ser- servatoryt, [< LL. servatorium, conserva- 
vant to the lender. Prov. xxii. 7. t O ry, magazine (glossing Gr. ifm^aKT^piov, phy- 
lactery), < L. servare. keen: see serve 1 . Cf. 
Serval ( f-'etts serval}. 
tailed without penciling of the ears, of a tawny color 
spotted with black, and about 30 inches long, exclusive 
of the tail, which is 10 inches long and ringed. Also 
called bushcat. 
servaline (ser'val-in), a. [< serval + -ine 1 .] 
Resembling or related to the serval: as, the 
sen-aline cat, Felis servalina, of western Africa. 
ser vandt , n. A Middle English form of servan t. 
servant (ser' vant), n. [< ME. servant, sen-aunt, 
servatent, servand, < OF. (and F.) servant, serv- 
ing, waiting (as a noun, OF. servant, m., usu- 
ally sergeant, etc., an attendant, servant, ser- 
3. One who dedicates himself to the service 
of another; one who professes himself ready 
to do the will of another. See phrases below. 
O Daniel, servant of the living God. Dan. vi. 20. 
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. Rom. i. 1. 
4f. A professed lover. The correlative term 
mistress is still in use. 
If any servaunt durst or oghte aryght 
Upon his lady pitously compleyne, 
Than wene I that I oghte be that wyght. 
Valentine. Madam and mistress, a thousand good-mor- 
rows. . . . 
Silvia. Sir Valentine and servant, to you two thousand. 
" "c.,T. G. of V., ill. 106. 
Phil. Peace to your fairest thoughts, dearest mistress ! 
Are. Oh, my dearest servant, I have a war within me! 
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iii. 2. 
Where the first question is how soon you shall die? next, 
if her present servant love her? next, if she shall have a 
new servant? and how many? B. Jonson, Epicoene, ii. 1. 
vante F. sen-ante, f., a female servant), = Pr. 
servente, sirvente = Sp. sirvien,e = Pg.Y ser- ^^^^^^^^^^ t ^ 
vente, a servant, < ML. servien(t-)s, a servant, V ants, a name sometimes given to the dramatic profession 
retainer, officer of a court, sergeant, appren- in Great Britain, in allusion to the names formerly given 
tiee, etc., < L. servien(t-)s, serving, ppr. of ser- to actors-Me King's or His Majesty's Servants, etc. 
vire, serve : see serve 1 . Doublet of sergeant, This comcedie was first acted in the yeere 1605 by the 
serjeant, semen*.] 1. One who serves or at- Kin 3' e aiest "l t ^^' ot B Jonsm - s volpone (ed. 1616). 
tends, whether voluntarily or involuntarily ; a ^^ n , g jnto ^ two theatri . 
person employed by another, and subject to his ca , Uompanie8 are know n to have been acting in the capi- to conform to the law and do the will of. 
orders; one who exerts himself or herself, or ^ For these companies patents were soon granted, un- 
labors, for the benefit of a master or an employ- der the names of "the Duke (of York)'s " and "the King's 
er; an attendant; a subordinate assistant; an Servants." 
The King's Servants acted then, as they do now, at the 
< L. servare, keep: see serve 1 , 
conservatory.] That which preserves, keeps, or 
guards. [Rare.] 
Their Phylacteries or Seruatories, Defensiues (so the 
word signifleth), in Hebrew Totaphoth, they vsed as Pre- 
seruatines [read -tines] or Remembrancers of the Law, and 
ware them larger then other men. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 141. 
serve 1 (sferv), v. ; pret. and pp. served, ppr. serv- 
ing. [< ME. serven, servien, serfen, < OF. (and 
1345 F -) senir = Pr - *W"> sirvir = Sp. Pg. servir 
' = It. servire, < L. sen-ire, serve; allied to L. 
servus, a slave, servare, keep, protect, < T/ sar, 
protect, = Zend har, protect, haurva, protecting. 
From the same L. source (servus, servire) are 
also ult. E. serf, servant, sergeant, deserve, dis- 
serve, misserve, subserve, desert' 2 , etc. In the 
ME. sense, 'deserve,' the word is in part an 
aphetic form of deserve.'] I. tratis. 1. To at- 
tend or wait upon ; act as servant to ; work for ; 
be in the employment of as a slave, domestic, 
hired helper, or the like. 
His master shall bore his ear through with an aul ; and 
he shall serve him for ever. Ex. xxi. 6. 
No man can serve two masters. Mat. vi. 24. 
I serve the king ; 
On whose employment I was sent to you. 
Shak., Lear, ii. 2. 136. 
2. To render spiritual obedience and worship 
agent. The earlier uses of this word seem to imply pro- 
tection on the part of the sovereign, lord, or master, and 
the notion of clientage, the relation involved being one in 
no sense degrading to the inferior. In modern use it de- 
notes specifically a domestic or menial helper. (See (c), 
below.) In law a servant is a person who, for a consid- 
eration, is bound to render service under the legal author- 
ity of another, such other being called the master. Agents 
of various kinds are sometimes included in the general 
designation of servants; but the term agent implies dis- 
cretionary power, and responsibility in the mode of per- 
forming duty, such as is not usually implied in the term 
servant: as, the uniformed servants of a railway-company. 
See master^, 2. 
Thou schalt not desire thi neisboris feere, 
Ne falsli his seruaunt from him hent. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 106. 
If I sent ouer see my seruantz to Bruges, 
Or In-to Pruslonde my prentys my profit to wayten, 
To marchaunden with monoye. 
Piers Plmrman (B), riii. 392. 
My learn'd and well-beloved servant, Cranmer, 
Prithee, return. Shak., Hen. VIII., ii. 4. 238. 
Menatonon sent messengers to me with Pearle, and 
Okisco King of Weopomeoke, to yeelde himselfe seruant 
to the Queene of England. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 91. 
The flag to be used by H. M.'s Diplomatic Servants, . . . 
whether on shore or embarked in boats or other vessels, 
is the Union Flag, with the Royal Arms in the centre. 
Foreign Office List, 1890, p. 246. 
Specifically (o) A bondman or bondwoman ; a slave. 
Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt. 
Deut. v. 15. 
He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the 
Lord's freeman. 1 Cor. vii. 22. 
In all India were no seruants, but all freemen. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 4.V2. 
Mrs. M had inherited a number of negroes from her servantt (ser vant), fl. *. [< servant, .] 
father's estate. It is recorded of her that she never al- subject ; subordinate. 
Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. 
Life of Quin (reprint 1887), p. 12. 
Proctors' servant. Same as bulldog, 3. Religious 
Servants of the Holy Virgin. See Semite. Servant 
Of servants, one degraded to the lowest condition of 
servitude. 
And he [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of ser- 
vants shall he be unto his brethren. Gen. ix. 25. 
Servant of the servants of God, a title (Latin serous 
servormn Dei} assumed by the popes since the time of 
Gregory the Great. Servant out of livery a servant 
of a higher grade, as a majordomo or butler, who does not 
wear the livery of his employer. Servants' hall, the 
room in a house set apart for the use of the servants in 
common, in which they take their meals together, etc. 
Whoever should happen to overhear their character dis- 
cussed in their own servants' hall, must prepare to un- 
dergo the scalpel of some such an anatomist as Mr. Fair- 
service. Scott, Rob Roy, xxi. 
By the time he had told his tale twice or thrice in the 
servants'-hatt or the butler's private apartment, he was 
pretty perfect and consistent. Thackeray, Virginians, xvi. 
Solomon's servants, a certain class of the returned ex- 
iles enumerated in Scripture after the Levites and the 
Nethinim. They were probably connected in some infe- 
rior capacity with the temple service. Ezra ii. 55, 58. 
Your (humble or obedient, etc.) servant, a phrase of 
courtesy, used especially in closing a letter, and now pure- 
ly formal. 
Sir, I can nothing say, 
But that I am your most obedient servant. 
SAat., All's Well, ii. 5.77. 
Ill make haste home and prevent her. Your servant, 
sir. Congreve, Way of the World, ii. 7. 
They [the Blollnt family] are extremely your servants, or 
else I should not think them my friends. 
Pope, To the Duchess of Hamilton. 
1. To 
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose 
you this day whom ye will serve. Josh. xxiv. 15. 
For ye serve the Lord Christ. Col. iii. 24. 
For a whole century 
Had he been there, 
Serving God in prayer. 
Longfellow, Golden Legend, ii. 
3. To be subordinate or subservient to ; min- 
ister to. 
How happy is he born and taught 
That serveth not another's will. 
Sir a. Wotton, The Happy Life. 
Bodies bright and greater should not serve 
The less not bright. Milton, P. L., viii. 87. 
4. To wait on or attend in the services of the 
table or at meals. 
Make ready wherewith I may sup. and gird thyself, and 
serve me, till I have eaten and drunken. Luke xvii. 8. 
Others, pamper'd in their shameless pride, 
Are serv'd in plate. Dryden. 
With diligence he'll serve us while we dine. 
Congreve, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, xi. 
5. To bring forward and place or arrange, as 
viands or food on a table : often with up, for- 
merly with forth or in. 
Serve hym [a pheasant] fourth ; no sawse hut salte. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 375. 
Bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we will 
come in to dinner. Shak., M. of V., iii. 5. 63. 
Thy care Is, under polish'd tins, 
To serve the hot-and-hot. 
Tennyson, Will Waterproof. 
6. To administer the service of; perform the 
duties required for: as, a curate may serve two 
churches. 
In 1823 he [Keble] left Oxford. ... to serve one or two 
small and poorly endowed curacies. 
Encyc. Brit., XIV. 24. 
