Dictionary

serve up en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (transitive) To present (food or drink) to those who will consume it; to serve.
   • She serves up pizza at nights.
   • “Are you fond of novels, Mr. Jenkins?” said Miss Angelica Feliciana Potts. “Yes mum, very—especially when they are fried with green peas, and served up with horseredish.”^([sic]) Miss Angelica fainted. 1842 May 11, J. W. Warren, editor, The Wetumpka Argus, volume VII, number 7, Wetumpka, Ala.: J. W. Warren, →OCLC, page [3], column 3:
   • let these remain upon a slow fire until they are well set, then break over them seven or eight eggs, as for poaching, and add salt and pepper; cook gently until the yolks are set, but not hard, brown with a salamander, and serve up. 1842, Gibbons Merle, John Reitch, The Domestic Dictionary and Housekeeper's Manual, page 87:
2. (idiomatic, transitive) To provide; deliver; inflict; impose.
   • Kyle serves up heroin in northside.
   • Mr. Perry is going to serve up an improvement plan that comes from the suits upstairs.
   • The cloud storage provider serves up server space.
   • Run hg serve inside a repository, and in under a second it will bring up a specialized HTTP server; this will accept connections from any client, and serve up data for that repository until you terminate it. 2009, Bryan O'Sullivan, Mercurial: The Definitive Guide, →ISBN, page 85:
   • It's inevitable that anything that provides us with such incredible amounts of pleasure and satisfaction is bound to serve up an equal amount of stress. 2005, Nicole Beland, Girls Seek Bliss: Zen and the Art of Modern Life Maintenance:
   • I have a plan to serve up revenge on those who wronged me.
3. (transitive) To pitch, throw, serve, or kick a ball to an opponent so that it is easily hit or intercepted.
   • West served up another fungo pass which Ulrichs flagrantly stole from Minisi on the 4. 1946 September 13, Lee A Gould, “Princeton 17, Pennsylvania 14”, in Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume 47:
   • Messi was caught in possession by Frank Lampard, who released Ramires, and the reliable Brazilian served up the perfect cross for Drogba to sweep a left-footed finish past Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes. 2012 April 18, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona”, in BBC Sport:
   • Livan Hernandez each allowed a major league-high 34 home runs; they were among the 605 different pitchers who served up long balls in 2007. 2007, Bryan Tsao, Carolina Bolado, Joe Distelheim, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008, →ISBN, page 172:
   • He thought he was about to score, but he served it up to the other team.

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