What's the difference between serve and wait?

Serve


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To work for; to labor in behalf of; to exert one's self continuously or statedly for the benefit of; to do service for; to be in the employment of, as an inferior, domestic, serf, slave, hired assistant, official helper, etc.; specifically, in a religious sense, to obey and worship.
  • (v. t.) To be subordinate to; to act a secondary part under; to appear as the inferior of; to minister to.
  • (v. t.) To be suitor to; to profess love to.
  • (v. t.) To wait upon; to supply the wants of; to attend; specifically, to wait upon at table; to attend at meals; to supply with food; as, to serve customers in a shop.
  • (v. t.) Hence, to bring forward, arrange, deal, or distribute, as a portion of anything, especially of food prepared for eating; -- often with up; formerly with in.
  • (v. t.) To perform the duties belonging to, or required in or for; hence, to be of use to; as, a curate may serve two churches; to serve one's country.
  • (v. t.) To contribute or conduce to; to promote; to be sufficient for; to satisfy; as, to serve one's turn.
  • (v. t.) To answer or be (in the place of something) to; as, a sofa serves one for a seat and a couch.
  • (v. t.) To treat; to behave one's self to; to requite; to act toward; as, he served me very ill.
  • (v. t.) To work; to operate; as, to serve the guns.
  • (v. t.) To bring to notice, deliver, or execute, either actually or constructively, in such manner as the law requires; as, to serve a summons.
  • (v. t.) To make legal service opon (a person named in a writ, summons, etc.); as, to serve a witness with a subp/na.
  • (v. t.) To pass or spend, as time, esp. time of punishment; as, to serve a term in prison.
  • (v. t.) To copulate with; to cover; as, a horse serves a mare; -- said of the male.
  • (v. t.) To lead off in delivering (the ball).
  • (v. t.) To wind spun yarn, or the like, tightly around (a rope or cable, etc.) so as to protect it from chafing or from the weather. See under Serving.
  • (v. i.) To be a servant or a slave; to be employed in labor or other business for another; to be in subjection or bondage; to render menial service.
  • (v. i.) To perform domestic offices; to be occupied with household affairs; to prepare and dish up food, etc.
  • (v. i.) To be in service; to do duty; to discharge the requirements of an office or employment. Specifically, to act in the public service, as a soldier, seaman. etc.
  • (v. i.) To be of use; to answer a purpose; to suffice; to suit; to be convenient or favorable.
  • (v. i.) To lead off in delivering the ball.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) These variants may serve as useful gene markers in alcohol research involving animal model studies with inbred strains in mice.
  • (2) The results indicated that neuropsychological measures may serve to broaden the concept of intelligence and that a brain-related criterion may contribute to a fuller understanding of its nature.
  • (3) The possibility that the ventral nerve photoreceptor cells serve a neurosecretory function in the adult Limulus is discussed.
  • (4) Despite a 10-year deadline to have the same number of ethnic minority officers in the ranks as in the populations they serve, the target was missed and police are thousands of officers short.
  • (5) Evidence is presented in support of the hypothesis that fresh bat guano serves as a means of pathogenic fungi dissemination in caves.
  • (6) Human gingival fibroblasts were allowed to attach and spread on bio-glasses for 1-72 h. Unreactive silica glass and cell culture polystyrene served as controls.
  • (7) Abbott also unveiled his new ministry, which confirmed only one woman would serve in the first Abbott cabinet.
  • (8) Patients served as their individual control based on observations of at least 1 year before the study.
  • (9) It is entirely proper for serving judges to set out the arguments in high-profile cases to help public understanding of the legal issues, as long as it is done in an even-handed way.
  • (10) Female littermates injected with 0.15 M NaCl served as controls.
  • (11) One-half of the specimens were treated with citric acid, pH 1, for 3 minutes, while the remainder served as untreated control specimens.
  • (12) The functions of O-GlcNAc remain largely unknown, but it may be important in blocking phosphorylation sites, it may be required for the assembly of specific multiprotein complexes, it might serve as a nuclear transport signal, or it may be directly involved in the active transport of macromolecules across nuclear pores.
  • (13) It has 200 volunteers each week to serve 38,000 individuals.
  • (14) Child age was negatively correlated with mother's use of commands, reasoning, threats, and bribes, and positively correlated with maternal nondirectives, servings, and child compliance.
  • (15) We suggest that neuronal PACAP may serve to modulate motor activity and secretion in the lower esophageal sphincter region.
  • (16) In a poll before the debate, 48% predicted that Merkel, who will become Europe's longest serving leader if re-elected on 22 September, would emerge as the winner of the US-style debate, while 26% favoured Steinbruck, a former finance minister who is known for his quick-wit and rhetorical skills, but sometimes comes across as arrogant.
  • (17) Eight vagotomy-gastrectomy dogs were studied; 4 had a jejunal fistula, and 4 other dogs without a fistula served as controls.
  • (18) It is suggested the participation of glycogen (starch) in the self-oscillatory mechanism of the futile cycle formed by the phosphofructokinase and fructose bisphosphatase reactions may give rise to oscillations with the period of 10(3)-10(4) min, which may serve as the basis for the cell clock.
  • (19) Variables from the medical history, physical examination, laboratory tests, and radiographs were used to develop different sets of criteria to serve different investigative purposes.
  • (20) This system may serve as a model to explain the mechanisms by which cells accumulate in inflamed joints.

Wait


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To watch; to observe; to take notice.
  • (v. i.) To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary till the arrival of some person or event; to rest in patience; to stay; not to depart.
  • (v. t.) To stay for; to rest or remain stationary in expectation of; to await; as, to wait orders.
  • (v. t.) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany; to await.
  • (v. t.) To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.
  • (v. t.) To cause to wait; to defer; to postpone; -- said of a meal; as, to wait dinner.
  • (v. i.) The act of waiting; a delay; a halt.
  • (v. i.) Ambush.
  • (v. i.) One who watches; a watchman.
  • (v. i.) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians; not used in the singular.
  • (v. i.) Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I can't wait to see what Christie and her patriarchy-smashing pals do next.
  • (2) Mike Ashley told Lee Charnley that maybe he could talk with me last week but I said: ‘Listen, we cannot say too much so I think it’s better if we wait.’ The message Mike Ashley is sending is quite positive, but it was better to talk after we play Tottenham.” Benítez will ask Ashley for written assurances over his transfer budget, control of transfers and other spheres of club autonomy, but can also reassure the owner that the prospect of managing in the second tier holds few fears for him.
  • (3) I said: ‘Apologies for doing this publicly, but I did try to get a meeting with you, and I couldn’t even get a reply.’ And then I had a massive go at him – about everything really, from poverty to uni fees to NHS waiting times.” She giggles again.
  • (4) It is possible that the high level of radiolabeled phospholipid found in the plasma membrane arose via the de novo pathway following the cleavage of an acyl group as we have found cytidine diphosphocholine phosphotransferase in the plasma membrane fraction (Wang, P., DeChatelet, L.R., and Waite, M. (1977) Biochim.
  • (5) Meanwhile Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, waiting anxiously for news of the scale of the Labour advance in his first nationwide electoral test, will urge the electorate not to be duped by the promise of a coalition mark 2, predicting sham concessions by the Conservatives .
  • (6) There are currently more than 380,000 households on local authority waiting lists in the capital – and the number is growing every day.
  • (7) If we’re waiting around for the Democratic version to sail through here, or the Republican version to sail through here, all those victims who are waiting for us to do something will wait for days, months, years, forever and we won’t get anything done.” Senator Bill Nelson, whose home state of Florida is still reeling from the Orlando shooting, said he felt morally obligated to return to his constituents with results.
  • (8) Terry Waite Chair, Benedict Birnberg Deputy chair, Antonio Ferrara CEO The Prisons Video Trust • If I want to build a bridge, I call in a firm of civil engineers who specialise in bridge-building.
  • (9) As a member of the state Assembly, Walker voted for a bill known as the Woman’s Right to Know Act, which required physicians to provide women with full information prior to an abortion and established a 24-hour waiting period in the hope that some women might change their mind about undergoing the procedure.
  • (10) Strict precautions are necessary to prevent the catastrophic events resulting from inadvertent gentamicin injection; such precautions should include precise labeling of all injectable solutions on the surgical field, waiting to draw up injectable antibiotics until the time they are needed, and drawing up injectable antibiotics under direct physician observation.
  • (11) If there’s a fire in the house, you don’t sit there saying we’re going to wait until the fire commissioner comes,” she said.
  • (12) Joe Gregory, parked outside the arena while waiting to pick up his girlfriend and her sister from the concert, captured its impact on his car’s dashcam.
  • (13) According to Nigerian government figures, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and there are 2,000 official major spillage sites, many going back decades, with thousands of smaller spills still waiting to be cleared up.
  • (14) At posttreatment, subjects in both active treatments reported significant improvement on self-report and interview measures of depression while subjects in the waiting list condition reported minimal change.
  • (15) Shenhua Watermark Coal, a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned Shenhua Group, is waiting for final approval from Hunt for a $1.2bn open-cut coalmine on the edge of the plains, a little more than three kilometres from Hamparsum’s property.
  • (16) Separate calculation of changes in prolactin after the course of medical treatment, pregnancies or 'just waiting' periods showed mean PRL concentrations to be significantly lower only for 'functional' patients after pregnancy.
  • (17) It's also worth noting that if the Help to Buy scheme really does inflate house prices, by waiting five years before you buy you run the risk of not actually being able to save enough for a 10% deposit, because you'll need a bigger amount than you now need.
  • (18) Would I be stupid not to wait another six months or so, to get a 90% mortgage given the cons of Help to Buy?
  • (19) A group placed on a waiting list for 3 weeks was used as a control group.
  • (20) "I don't think that people are waiting for the wrong solution."

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