serve up

serve up

1. (transitive) To present (food or drink) to those who will consume it; to serve.
   • 1842, Gibbons Merle & ‎John Reitch, The Domestic Dictionary and Housekeeper's Manual, page 87:

     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.

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To provide; deliver.
   • 2009, Bryan O'Sullivan, Mercurial: The Definitive Guide, →ISBN, page 85:

     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.

   • 2005, Nicole Beland, Girls Seek Bliss: Zen and the Art of Modern Life Maintenance

     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.

3. (transitive, sports) To pitch, throw, serve, or kick a ball to an opponent so that it is easily hit or intercepted.
   • 1946 September 13, Lee A Gould, “Princeton 17, Pennsylvania 14”, in Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume 47:

     West served up another fungo pass which Ulrichs flagrantly stole from Minisi on the 4.

   • 2007, Bryan Tsao, ‎Carolina Bolado, ‎& Joe Distelheim, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008, →ISBN, page 172:

     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.

   • 2012 April 18, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona”, in BBC Sport‎:

     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.

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