serviceable 
And Enid . . . boil'd the flesh and spread the board, 
And stood behind and waited on the three ; 
And, seeing her so sweet and serviceable, 
Geralnt had longing in him evermore 
To stoop and kiss the tender little thumb 
That crossed the trencher. Tennyson. Oeraint. 
2f. Connected with service ; proffering service. 
There is an inward reasonable, and there is a solemn 
outward serriceable worship belonging unto God. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 4. 
And all about the courtly stable 
BHght-harness'd Angels sit, in order serviceable. 
Milton, Nativity, 1. 244. 
3. Capable of rendering useful service; pro- 
moting happiness, interest, advantage, or any 
good; useful; beneficial; advantageous. 
Religion hath force to qualify all sorts of men, and to 
make them, in public affairs, the more serviceable. 
Hooker. 
His gold-headed eane, too a serviceable staff, of dark 
polished wood had similar traits. 
Uau'thorne, Seven Gables, iv. 
4. Durable ; admitting of hard or long use or 
wear: as, a serviceable fabric. 
serviceableness (ser'vi-sa-bl-nes), . 1. The 
state or character of being serviceable ; useful- 
ness in promoting good of any kind ; beneficial- 
ness. 
All action being for some end, its aptness to be com- 
manded or forbidden must be founded upon its sermce- 
ableness or disserviceableness to some end. JVorro. 
2. Helpfulness; readiness to do service. 
He might continually be in her presence, shewing more 
humble tterviceableness and joy to content her than ever 
before. Sir P. Sidney. 
serviceably (ser'vi-sa-bli), adv. In a service- 
able manner; so a,s to be serviceable. 
serviceaget (ser'vi-saj), . [< service 1 + -age.] 
A state of servitude. 
His threats he feareth, and obeyes the raine 
Of thraldome base, and seruiceage, though loth. 
Fairfax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, viii. 83. 
service-berry (ser'vis-ber'i), n. [Early mod. 
E. also serrice-bcrrie, sarvice-berrie ; < service'* 
+ berry*.] 1. A berry of the service-tree. 
2. The fruit of the whitebeam, Pyrux Aria. 
[Scotch.] 3. A North American shrub or 
small tree, Amelanchier Canadensis, or its berry- 
Service-berry {Amelanchitr CartattfHsis). 
i, branch with flowers; 2, branch with fruit; a, flower; *, fruit. 
like subacid fruit; the shad-bush or June- 
berry. The name extends to the other species of 
the genus, especially the western A. alnifolia. 
service-book (ser'vis-buk), n. A book contain- 
ing the forms for public worship appointed for 
any given church ; an office-book. The service- 
book of the Anglican Church is the Book of Common 
Prayer. Among the service-books of the Roman Catholic 
Church are the Missal, Breviary, Ritual, Pontifical, etc. 
Among those of the Greek Church are the Euchologion, 
Horologion, Typicum, Mensea, Triodion, Pentecostarion, 
Paracletice, Octoechns, and Menologion. A much greater 
number of service-books was formerly in use in the West- 
ern Church than now, such as the Gradual, Epistolary, 
Evangeliary, etc. 
Although to forbid the service-book there be much more 
reason, as being of itself superstitious. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, rvi. 
service-box (ser'vis-boks), n. A form of ex- 
pansion-joint used in street-mains of steam- 
heating systems, serving at once to provide for 
expansion and contraction in the main pipes, 
and to supply a convenient connection for the 
service-pipes of distribution to houses. 
service-Cleaner (ser'vis-kle'ner), n. A port- 
able air-compressing pump and receiver used 
to free gas service-pipes from obstructions. 
The holder is fllled with compressed air, and connected 
with the obstructed pipe by a short piece of hose. On 
turning a cock, the compressed air suddenly escapes into 
the pipe, and blows the obstruction before it. 
service-line (ser'vis-lin), . In luirii-tfiniin, one 
of the two lines drawn across the court twenty- 
one feet from the net. See lairn-tenns. 
service-magazine (ser'vis-mag-a-zen*), . 
Milit., a magazine for the storage of ammuni- 
tion intended for immediate use. It may be con- 
structed either wholly or partly under ground or entirely 
above ground. Its size is regulated by the number of 
rounds to be held in readiness. 
service-pipe (ser'vis-pip), . A pipe, usually 
of lead or iron, for the supply of water, gas, 
or the like from the main to a building. 
service-tree (ser'vis-tre), n. [< service* + tree.'] 
1. A tree, Pyrus (Sorbus) domestica, native in 
continental Europe. It grows from 20 to 60 feet high, 
has leaves like those of the mountain-ash, and yields a 
small pear-shaped or apple-shaped fruit which, like the 
medlar, is pleasant only in an overripe condition. Its 
wood is hard and close-grained, and is sought after for 
mill-work and other purposes being preferred to all 
other woods for making the screws of wine-presses. Old 
or local names are citrine and checker-tree. 
2f. In some old books, apparently, the common 
pear. Wild service-tree, Pyrus torminalis, native 
southward in Great Britain and on the continent of Eu- 
rope. It bears a fruit, which in England is locally pro- 
duced for market* of similar character to that of the ser- 
vice-tree. See swallow-pear, under pear'. 
servicioust, a. [ME. servycyoics, < ML. servi- 
tiosux, serviciosug, serving, < L. servitium, ser- 
vice: see service*.'] Doing service. 
Serv[yc]yowse or servyable [var. servyeyou's or servicya- 
ble, servysable], obsequiosus, serriciosus, servilis. 
Prompt. Pan., p. 453. 
servient (ser'vi-ent), a. [< L. servien(t-)s, ppr. 
ofserrire : see serve*. Cf. servant, sergeant, from 
the same source.] Subordinate. 
My soul is from me fled awav. 
Nor has of late inform 'd my body here, 
But in another's breast doth lie, 
That neither is nor will be I, 
As a form eeririent and assisting there. 
Couiey, The Soul. 
Servient tenement, in law, a tenement which is subject 
to an easement in favor of another than its owner, the 
dominant tenement being that to which or to the owner of 
which the service is due. 
serviette (ser-vi-ef), . K F. serviette, OF. 
serviette = Sp. senilleta = It. salvieta, a nap- 
kin : origin uncertain, the forms being discor- 
dant and appar. in part perverted, (a) In one 
view, orig. It., salvieta, 'that which preserves 
one's garments from soiling," < salt-are, pre- 
serve, save (see save*), being in F. conformed 
to serrir, serve. (6) In another view (Diez), 
orig. P., serviette, for "senitettt, with dim. -ette, 
< OF. servit (= Pr. servit = It. serrito), pp. of 
servir, serve : see serve*, (c) Orig. F., serviette, 
directly < servir, serve (cf. scrviable, service- 
able), T -ette. None of these explanations is 
free from difficulties.] A napkin. 
servile (ser'vil), a. and n. [< ME. servile, < OF. 
(and F. ) servile = Pr. Sp. Pg. servil = It. servile, 
< L. servilis, of a slave, servile, < servus, a 
slave: see serf and serve*.] I. a. 1. Of or per- 
taining to slaves or servants. 
Let not the Chairman with assuming Stride 
Press near the Wall, and rudely thrust thy Side : 
The Laws have set him Bounds ; his servile Feet 
Should ne'er encroach where Posts defend the Street. 
Gay, Trivia, iii. 153. 
The servile wars of Sicily, and the still more formidable 
revolt of Spartacus, had shaken Italy to its centre, and 
the shock was felt in every household. 
/,*?/, Europ. Morals, I. 320. 
2. Consisting or made up of slaves ; belonging 
to the class of slaves ; held in subjection ; de- 
pendent. 
Every servile groom jests at my wrongs. 
Marlowe, Doctor Faustns, iv. 11. 
The unfree or nerrile class is divided by Tacitus into 
two : one answering to the coloni of Roman civilisation, 
and the other to slaves. Stubbs, Const. Hist., 14. 
The employment of servile cultivators implies an in- 
equality in the shares of the arable which they cultivate 
for their respective masters. Stubbs, Const. Hist., 1 14. 
3. Pertaining or appropriate to a slave or de- 
pendent ; fit or proper for a slave. 
Leue seniile werkis * nyce aray ; 
This is the thridde comaundement. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 104. 
Yet there is nothing of rigour used by the Master to his 
Slave, except it be the very meanest, such as do all sorts 
of servile work. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 141. 
4. Resembling a slave or dependent; charac- 
teristic or worthy of a slave ; slavish ; hence, 
mean-spirited; cringing; base; lacking inde- 
pendence. 
Scarce their Words of Insolency were out of their 
Mouths when they fell to Words of most servile Submis- 
sion. Baker, Chronicles, p. 139. 
serving-man 
Such as our motive is our aim must be ; 
If this be servile, that can ne'er be free. 
(.'iiirper. Charity, 1. 588. 
A servile adoption of received opinions. 
Story, Oration at Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 31, 1826. 
Political talent andambition.havingno sphere foraction. 
steadily decay, and servile, enervating, ami A icious habits 
proportionately increase. Leeky, Europ. Morals, II. 276. 
5. Obedient; subject. 
A breath thoil art 
Servile to all the skyey influences. 
Shak., M. forM., ill. 1. 9. 
He is a merchant, a mere wandering merchant, 
Servile to gain. 
Fletcher (and another), False One, iv. 2. 
6. In yriim., of secondary or subordinate char- 
acter; not independent, bvjt answering an or- 
thographic purpose. 
One of the three is ... a weak or servile letter, hardly 
more than a hiatus. 
Whitney, Lang, and Study of Lang., p. 302. 
Case relations are denoted by added syllables, some of 
which retain their form and sense as independent words, 
and others have been degraded into servile particles. 
JohnAvery, Trans. Amer. Philol. Ass., XVI., App. , p. xvii. 
II. . 1. A slave; a menial. 
From his foot, in sign of degradation, sprang the Sudra, 
or serviles, Jooraed to menial duties. 
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 19. 
2. In gram., a servile element, whether sound 
or character; a non-radical element, 
servilely (ser'vil-li), adv. In a servile manner, 
in any sense of the word servile. 
servileness (ser'vil-nes), n. Same as servility. 
servilism (ser'vil-izm), . [< servile + -ism.] 
The existence of a servile class, regarded as an 
institution. . [Recent.] 
The remnants of domination and of servilism fin the 
southern United States] will soon take themselves hence. 
Congregatianalist, Nov. 17, 1880. 
servility (ser-vil'j-ti), . [< F. servilite = Sp. 
servilidad = Pg. servilidade = It. serviiita ; < L. 
as if 'servilita(t-)s, < servilis, servile: see ser- 
vile.] The state or character of being servile. 
Especially (o) The condition of a slave or bondman; 
slavery. 
To be a queen in bondage is more vile 
Than is a slave in base servility. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 3. 113. 
Servility with freedom to contend. 
Milton, P. L., vi. 109. 
(b) Mean submission ; baseness ; slavishness ; obsequious- 
ness ; slavish deference. 
This unhappy servility to custom. 
Government of the Tongue. 
Loyalty died away into servility. 
Macaulay, Hallam's Const. Hist. 
The servility and heart burnings of repining poverty. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 161. 
A desire to conform to middle-class prejudices may pro- 
duce quite as real a servility as the patronage of aristocra- 
cies or of courts. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., ill. 
serving (ser'ving), n. [Verbal n. of serve*, .] 
1. Same as service*, 1. 2. Naut., same as ser- 
vice*, 17. 
The core travels through another set of machines, which 
first wrap it with a thick serving of tarred jute. 
Scribner's Mag., VIII. 403. 
serving-board (ser'ving-bord), . Xaut., a 
piece of hard wood fitted with a handle, used 
for serving spun-yarn on small ropes. 
The second mate . . . has charge of the boatswain's 
locker, which includes serving-boards, marline spikes, etc. 
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 12. 
serving-maid (ser'ving-mad), n. A female ser- 
vant. 
serving-mallet (ser'ving-mal'et), n. Naut., a 
semicylindrical piece of wood, fitted with a 
handle, and having a groove on one side to fit 
a, serving-mallet: &, " wonned" rope " parceled" with canvas; 
f, serving-yarn. 
the convexity of a rope. It is used for con- 
venience in serving ropes, or wrapping them 
round with spun-yarn, etc., to prevent chafing. 
Serving-man (ser'ving-man), N. 1. A male 
servant; a menial. 
If ye will be a Seruin/tman, 
With attendaunce doe begin, 
Bailees Book (E. E. T. S. ), p. 82. 
