serve notice

present singular third person serves notice · participle present serving notice · participle past served notice · past served notice

1. lawTo officially give a legal notice to.

   One who desires to assert his right to the possession of a horse by virtue of his lien must ascertain the real owner and serve notice on him.

   1894, Leonard Augustus Jones, A Treatise on the Law of Liens, Common Law, Statutory, Equitable and Maritime, →ISBN

   Synonyms: let go, sack

2. To warn or announce.

   Those same philosophy articles then immediately serve notice that, for simplicity, they will discuss only belief.

   2000, Nalini Bhushan, Stuart Rosenfeld, Of Minds and Molecules: New Philosophical Perspectives on Chemistry, →ISBN

3. idiomaticTo fire; to terminate one's employment or formal association.

   "One white man." said Bill, after a brief inspection. "Out on his line, I s'pose, and there's no tellin' when he'll be back. So we won't wait. We'll just serve notice on him."

   1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate

   Synonyms: axe