service

Definition

An act of being of assistance to someone.

Etymology

From Middle English servise, from Old English serfis, from Old French servise (French service), from the verb servir, from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus (“servant; serf; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Displaced native Old English þeġnung.

Example Sentences

• "I say I did him a service by ending our relationship – now he can freely pursue his career."
• "The Parliament for ever cries more money, / The service of the state demands more money. / Just heaven! of what service is the state?"
• "Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all."