servo

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː.vəʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝ.voʊ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)vəʊ

Etymology 1

Clipping of servomotor.

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Servomechanism

Wikipedia

Noun

servo (plural servos)

1. A servomechanism or servomotor.
   • 2003, Roger Williams, How to Improve Triumph TR5, 250 and 6, page 45:

     A Lockheed Type 6 remote servo adds a 1.9 multiplier to the pedal pressures and, at about £140, is rather cheaper than all the Girling single line remote servos I′ve seen advertised.

   • 2004, Myke Predko, 123 Robotics Experiments for the Evil Genius, page 300:

     If you are using Futaba servos with the application, make sure that you change the data values accordingly.

   • 2008, Mark L. Latash, Neurophysiological Basis of Movement, page 95:

     The servo is an autonomic element of a control system: Setting a desired value of an output parameter makes a servo do its job independently of other factors as long as the specified value remains constant.

Derived terms

• servocontrol
• servocontroller
• servo-driven
• servosystem

Verb

servo (third-person singular simple present servos, present participle servoing, simple past and past participle servoed)

1. To control by means of servocontrol

Etymology 2

Clipping of service station +‎ -o.

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Filling station

Wikipedia

Noun

servo (plural servos)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) A service station, being a place to buy petrol for cars etc., as well as various convenience items, with or without actual car service facilities.
   • 2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 83:

     Two hours later Susan pulled the Pajero off the road onto the floodlit apron of the servo at the end of the Bowen bypass.

   • 2008, Roz Hopkins, Pumped, page 12:

     Crude oil is purchased in US dollars, so the price of the petrol at your local servo is heavily influenced by the rate of exchange between the greenback and the Aussie dollar.

   • 2011 July 16, “Beechboro servo bandit escapes with cash”, in The West Australian:
   • 2011 July 17, “Teen arrested over servo robbery”, in Illawarra Mercury:

Anagrams

• Vores, overs, roves, verso, vores

Esperanto

Etymology

From servi (“to serve”) +‎ -o.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈservo/
• Rhymes: -ervo

Noun

servo (accusative singular servon, plural servoj, accusative plural servojn)

1. service

Derived terms

Finnish

Etymology

From English servo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈserʋo/,
• Rhymes: -erʋo
• Syllabification^(key): ser‧vo

Noun

servo

1. servo

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “servo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

Anagrams

• verso

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese servo (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin servus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

servo m (plural servos, feminine serva, feminine plural servas)

1. serf

   Antonyms: amo, señor

2. servant

References

• “servo” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “servo” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “servo” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “servo” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “servo” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin servus, from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo- (“guardian”), or perhaps of Etruscan origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛr.vo/
• Rhymes: -ɛrvo
• Hyphenation: sèr‧vo

Adjective

servo (feminine serva, masculine plural servi, feminine plural serve)

1. (literary) servile (of or pertaining to a slave)
   • early-mid 1310s–mid 1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto VI”, in Purgatorio [Purgatory]‎, lines 76–78; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎, 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello,
     nave sanza nocchiere in gran tempesta,
     non donna di provincie, ma bordello!

     Ah! servile Italy, grief's hostelry! A ship without a pilot in great tempest! No Lady thou of Provinces, but brothel!

   • 1763, Giuseppe Parini, “Il mattino [Morning]”, in Opere dell'abate Giuseppe Parini - Volume primo [Works of abbot Giuseppe Parini - Volume one]‎, Venice: Giacomo Storti, published 1803, page 126:

     […] le serve braccia
     Fornien di leve onnipotenti, ond’alto
     Salisser poi piramidi, obelischi

     They endowed the servile arms with all-powerful levers, so that pyramids and obelisks could then rise

   • 1821, Alessandro Manzoni, Il cinque maggio [The Fifth of May]‎, collected in Opere varie di Alessandro Manzoni, Fratelli Rechiedei, published 1881, page 690, lines 17–20:

     Di mille voci al sonito
     Mista la sua non ha:
     Vergin di servo encomio
     E di codardo oltraggio

     With the thousand resounding voices his one does not mix, free from all taint of servile praise and cowardly insult

Noun

servo m (plural servi, feminine serva)

1. (literary) slave

   Synonym: schiavo

2. servant

   Synonyms: servitore, domestico

Related terms

• servigio
• servile
• servire
• servitù
• servizio
• servo-

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

servo

1. first-person singular present indicative of servire

Anagrams

• sevro, verso, versò

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *serwāō, from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to watch over, protect”). Possible cognates in Ancient Greek Ἥρα (Hḗra), ἥρως (hḗrōs).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈser.u̯oː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈser.vo/,

Verb

servō (present infinitive servāre, perfect active servāvī, supine servātum); first conjugation

1. to maintain, keep

   Synonyms: teneo, obtineō, retineo, capio, contineō, comprehendo, obsideo, sustineo

   • 165 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Hecyra 3.3.42:

     Pollicitus sum et servāre in eō certumst quod dīxī fidem.

     I’ve made a promise and it’s certain that I shall keep what I said.

   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 2.3.1–2:

     Aequam mementō rēbus in arduīs
     servāre mentem

     Remember to maintain a level mind in
     difficult situations

2. to protect, save, keep, guard, safeguard, watch over

   Synonyms: salvō, tūtor, vindicō, cū̆stōdiō, sospitō, teneō, adimō, prōtegō, tegō, adsum, sustineō, dēfendō, tueor, prohibeō, arceō, mūniō, ēripiō

   Antonyms: immineō, īnstō, obiectō

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.546–548:

     “Quem sī Fāta virum servant, sī vēscitur aurā
     aetheriā, neque adhūc crūdēlibus occubat umbrīs,
     nōn metus .”

     “If the Fates protect this man, if he breathes in the upper air, and neither still has he fallen among the cruel shades, no fear .”
     (Ilioneus, speaking of Aeneas, assures Queen Dido regarding the Trojan presence in Carthage.)

3. to give heed to, pay attention to; watch, observe any thing

   Synonyms: observō, conspiciō, cōnspicor, cū̆stōdiō, animadvertō, caveō, intueor

4. (with ex in Classical Latin; with ab in Late Latin) to save, to deliver, rescue

   Synonyms: līberō, eximō, absolvō, vindicō, excipiō

   Antonyms: refrēnō, coerceō, saepiō, officiō, obstō, comprimō, impediō, arceō, supprimō

   • 54 BCE – 51 BCE, Cicero, De re publica 1.3.5:

     Hinc enim illa et apud Graecōs exempla, Miltiadem, victōrem domitōremque Persārum, nōndum sānātīs volneribus iīs, quae corpore adversō in clārissima victōriā accēpisset, vītam ex hostium tēlīs servātam in cīvium vinclīs prōfūdisse, et Themistoclem patriā, quam līberāvisset, pulsum atque prōterritum non in Graeciae portūs per sē servātōs, sed in barbariae sinūs cōnfūgisse, quam adflīxerat.

     Hence these examples among the Greeks as well: Miltiades, victor and conqueror of the Persians, to have spilt his life, preserved from enemies’ weapons, in the chains of his citizens, with the wounds received on the front of his body in the course of the most glorious victory not yet healed; and Themistocles, banished and driven away from the country he had freed, to have fled not to the harbours of Greece, saved by himself, but to the gulfs of a foreign country, which he had oppressed.

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 7.29.103:

     Super omnia Capitōlium summamque rem in eō sōlus ā Gallīs servāverat, sī nōn regnō suō servasset.

     Above all had singlehandedly saved the Capitol and the state treasure therein from the Gauls—had he only not saved it for his own reign.

5. to preserve, store, keep, reserve
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.207:

     Dūrāte, et vōsmet rēbus servāte secundīs.

     Endure, and preserve yourselves for favourable things.

6. (figurative) to permit, allow

Conjugation

¹At least one use of the archaic "sigmatic future" and "sigmatic aorist" tenses is attested, which are used by Old Latin writers; most notably Plautus and Terence. The sigmatic future is generally ascribed a future or future perfect meaning, while the sigmatic aorist expresses a possible desire ("might want to").
²At least one rare poetic syncopated perfect form is attested.

Related terms

Descendants

See also

• serviō

Noun

servō

1. dative/ablative singular of servus

References

• “servo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “servo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• servo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to rescue from peril: aliquem ex periculo eripere, servare
    
  • to show an affectionate regard for a person's memory: memoriam alicuius pie inviolateque servare
    
  • to observe the chronological order of events: temporum ordinem servare
    
  • to observe the chronological order of events: servare et notare tempora
    
  • to be calm, self-possessed: constantiam servare
    
  • to preserve one's loyalty: fidem colere, servare
    
  • to keep one's word (not tenere): fidem servare (opp. fallere)
    
  • to do one's duty: officium suum facere, servare, colere, tueri, exsequi, praestare
    
  • to observe moderation, be moderate: modum tenere, retinere, servare, adhibere
    
  • to keep one's oath: iusiurandum (religionem) servare, conservare
    
  • to observe the sky (i.e. the flight of birds, lightning, thunder, etc.: de caelo servare (Att. 4. 3. 3)
    
  • to fast: ieiunium servare
    
  • to keep up a usage: consuetudinem suam tenere, retinere, servare
    
  • to keep the ranks: ordines servare (B. G. 4. 26)
    
  • (ambiguous) to narrate events in the order of their occurrence: res temporum ordine servato narrare
    
• servo in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• Julius Pokorny (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, in 3 vols, Bern, München: Francke Verlag

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin servus, from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo- (“guardian”), or perhaps of Etruscan origin.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Brazil)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧vo

Noun

servo m (plural servos, feminine serva, feminine plural servas)

1. servant
2. serf

Related terms

• servir
• serviço
• serviçal
• servente

See also

• criado
• escravo

Spanish

Noun

servo m (plural servos)

1. Abbreviation of servomecanismo.
2. Abbreviation of servomotor.

Further reading

• “servo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:

servo

Wikipedia ^sv

Noun

servo c

1. servo

Declension

Derived terms

• bromsservo
• servomotor
• servostyrning
• servosystem

References

• servo in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• servo in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• servo in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)