King James Bible Dictionary

SERV'ICE, noun [From Latin servitium.]

1. In a general sense, labor of body or of body and mind, performed at the command of a superior, or the pursuance of duty, or for the benefit of another. service is voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary service is that of hired servants, or of contract, or of persons who spontaneously perform something for another's benefit. Involuntary service is that of slaves, who work by compulsion.

2. The business of a servant; menial office.

3. Attendance of a servant.

4. Place of a servant; actual employment of a servant; as, to be out of service.

5. Any thing done by way of duty to a superior.

This poem was the last piece of service I did for my master king Charles.

Dryden.

6. Attendance on a superior.

Madam, I entreat true peace of you,

Which I will purchase with my duteous service. Shak.

7. Profession of respect uttered or sent.

Pray do my service to his majesty. Shak.

8. Actual duty; that which is required to be done in an office; as, to perform the services of a clerk, a sherif or judge.

9. That which God requires of man; worship; obedience.

God requires no man's service upon hard and unreasonable terms. Tillotson.

10. Employment; business; office; as, to qualify a man for public service.

11. Use; purpose. The guns are not fit for public service.

12. Military duty by land or sea; as a military or naval service.

13. A military achievment.

14. Useful office; advantage conferred; that which promotes interest or happiness. Medicine often does no service to the sick; calumny is sometimes of service to an author.

15. Favor.

To thee a woman's services are due. Shak.

16. The duty which a tenant owes to his lord for his fee. Personal service consists in homage and fealty, etc.

17. Public worship or office of devotion. Divine service was interrupted.

18. A musical church composition consisting of choruses, trios, duets, solos, etc.

19. The official duties of a minister of the gospel, as in church, at a funeral, marriage, etc.

20. Courses; order of dishes at table.

There was no extraordinary service seen on the board. Hakewill.

21. In seamen's language, the material used for serving a rope, as spun yarn, small lines, etc.

22. A tree and its fruit, of the genus Sorbus. The wild service is of the genus Crataegus.

Service of a writ, process, etc.; the reading of it to the person to whom notice is intended to be given, or the leaving of an attested copy with the person or his attorney, or at his usual place of abode.

Service of an attachment, the seizing of the person or goods according to the direction.

The service of an execution, the sevying of it upon the goods, estate or person of the defendant.

SERV'ICEABLE, adjective

1. That does service; that promotes happiness, interest, advantage or any good; useful; beneficial; advantageous. Rulers may be very serviceable to religion by their example. The attentions of my friends were very serviceable to me when abroad. Rain and manure are serviceable to land.

2. Active; diligent; officious.

I know thee well, a serviceable villain. Shak. [Unusual.]

SERV'ICEABLENESS, noun

1. Usefulness of promoting good of any kind; beneficialness.

All action being for some end, its aptness to be commanded or forbidden must be founded upon its serviceableness or disserviceableness to some end. Norris.

2. Officiousness; readiness to do service.