serve up

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

1. transitiveTo present (food or drink) to those who will consume it; to serve.

   She serves up pizza at nights.

   2 more examples

   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

   “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

2. idiomatictransitiveTo provide; deliver; inflict; impose.

   Kyle serves up heroin in northside.

   5 more examples

   The cloud storage provider serves up server space.

   I have a plan to serve up revenge on those who wronged me.

   Mr. Perry is going to serve up an improvement plan that comes from the suits upstairs.

   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

3. transitivehobbiesTo pitch, throw, serve, or kick a ball to an opponent so that it is easily hit or intercepted.

   He thought he was about to score, but he served it up to the other team.

   3 more examples

   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

   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

   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