server

/serr"veuhr/, n.

1. a person who serves.

2. something that serves or is used in serving, as a salver.

3. a broad fork, spoon, or spatula for dishing out and serving individual portions of food, as vegetables, cake, or pie.

4. Eccles. an attendant on the priest at Mass, who arranges the altar, makes the responses, etc.

5. (in tennis, badminton, handball, etc.) the player who puts the ball or shuttlecock in play.

6. a computer that makes services, as access to data files, programs, and peripheral devices, available to workstations on a network. Cf. client, file server (in the Addenda).

[1350-1400; ME; see SERVE, -ER¹]

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Network computer, computer program, or device that processes requests from a client (see client-server architecture).

On the World Wide Web, for example, a Web server is a computer that uses the HTTP protocol to send Web pages to a client's computer when the client requests them. On a local area network, a print server manages one or more printers, and prints files sent to it by client computers. Network servers (which manage network traffic) and file servers (which store and retrieve files for clients) are two more examples of servers.

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