overserve

verb

over·​serve ˌō-vər-ˈsərv 

overserved; overserving; overserves

1

transitive : to provide (someone or something) with more of a product, service, etc., than is needed or appropriate : overservice

He admitted older viewers were overserved by the BBC …

—John Plunkett

2

transitive + intransitive : to serve too much food or drink to someone

especially : to serve too much alcohol to someone

… state authorities cited Horseshoe Casino for overserving a patron who troopers said was drunk when he caused a fatal crash later that night.

—Pat LaFleur

Police say Griffin was arrested for his own safety rather than given misdemeanor citations. A friend of Griffin's said he had been overserved, according to multiple reports.

—ESPN.com

"It's easy to take a horrific criminal act and associate it with an earlier crime," such as overserving alcohol, he [Jonathan Turley] said.

—Deanna Paul

… airlines in general benefit from serving free alcohol in part because it is a depressant that, in reasonable amounts, combines with cabin air to sedate passengers. … The trick, of course, is not to overserve, since too much booze can make people rowdy or disruptive.

—The Economist

see also overserved

Examples of overserve in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There was the August night in Toronto when the players hung out at a local bar, perhaps a bit overserved, headed back to the hotel at 2 in the morning, when someone came up with the idea of waking up beloved third base coach Brian Butterfield. — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 16 Apr. 2023

Earlier this month, a bartender accused of overserving Molina ahead of the crash, Cala Richardson, 26, was charged with one count of sale to certain persons. — Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 24 Feb. 2023

Officers have instructed businesses not to overserve people and not to admit people who’ve already had too much to drink. — Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Aug. 2022

There is a tendency to overserve the least valuable clients to the detriment of the most valuable. — Marc Emmer, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1836, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for overserve

• conserve
• deserve
• manoeuvre
• observe
• preserve
• reserve
• subserve
• curve
• mirv
• nerve
• serve
• swerve