serving
part of speech
noun (a serving, servings); verb, -ing form of serve (serve, serves, served, serving); adjective (serving)
meaning for a pupil
1) A serving is an amount of food for one person; a portion. tree →
2) Serving means giving food or drink to people, or working for someone. tree →
3) Serving can describe someone who is working now in an army, team or job, as in «a serving soldier». tree →
4) In sports like tennis, serving is hitting the ball to start a point. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths and cooking, a recipe «makes 6 servings» — divide or multiply ingredients by the number of servings. On food labels, «per serving» gives the calories in one portion. In everyday life waiters are serving food. Phrases: per serving, a serving of, serving dish, serving spoon, serving time (in prison).
examples
- This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens: (Torah NUM.4.24, JPS 1917) tree →
- And he made the laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, of the mirrors of the serving women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting. (Torah EXO.38.8, JPS 1917) tree →
- Dalet-Tet-Lamed-Nun-Taw, with the tip of the tongue, serving with voice. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
- This cake recipe makes 8 servings. tree →
- One serving of cereal is 30 g. tree →
- The waiter is serving the next table. tree →
- If one serving needs 2 eggs, 5 servings need 10 eggs. tree →
- She is serving for the match in tennis. tree →
- Grandpa was a serving soldier for many years. tree →
- Pass me the serving spoon, please. tree →
- Only his bride, who was serving as cook to her sisters, recognised her lover at once. tree →
note
As a noun it is countable: a serving, two servings. «Serving» and «portion» mean nearly the same. On food labels, per serving and per 100 g are different, a common trap. In maths, total amount = amount per serving × number of servings.
In the corpora
- This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens:
- The poem: "I keep six honest serving-men ...
- "Made the ultimate sacrifice" means died in war while serving one's country.
- "Doing time" means serving a prison sentence.
- From a shared dish you use the serving spoon and take a fair share, and you offer the last piece before taking it.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «serving» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.