server

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

server
    n 1: a person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a
         restaurant) [syn: {waiter}, {server}]
    2: (court games) the player who serves to start a point
    3: (computer science) a computer that provides client stations
       with access to files and printers as shared resources to a
       computer network [syn: {server}, {host}]
    4: utensil used in serving food or drink

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Server \Serv"er\, n.
   1. One who serves.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A tray for dishes; a salver. --Randolph.
      [1913 Webster]

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

server
 n.

   A kind of {daemon} that performs a service for the requester and which
   often runs on a computer other than the one on which the
   requestor/client runs. A particularly common term on the Internet,
   which is rife with web servers, name servers, domain servers, `news
   servers', finger servers, and the like.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

server
servers

   1. A program which provides some service to other ({client})
   programs.  The connection between client and server is
   normally by means of {message passing}, often over a
   {network}, and uses some {protocol} to encode the client's
   requests and the server's responses.  The server may run
   continuously (as a {daemon}), waiting for requests to arrive
   or it may be invoked by some higher level daemon which
   controls a number of specific servers ({inetd} on {Unix}).

   There are many servers associated with the {Internet}, such as
   those for {HTTP}, {Network File System}, {Network Information
   Service} (NIS), {Domain Name System} (DNS), {FTP}, {news},
   {finger}, {Network Time Protocol}.  On Unix, a long list can
   be found in /etc/services or in the {NIS} database "services".
   See {client-server}.

   2. A computer which provides some service for other computers
   connected to it via a network.  The most common example is a
   {file server} which has a local disk and services requests
   from remote clients to read and write files on that disk,
   often using {Sun}'s {Network File System} (NFS) {protocol} or
   {Novell Netware} on {PCs}.  Another common example is a {web
   server}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (2003-12-29)