# deserve
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English deserven, from Old French deservir, from Latin dēserviō, from dē- + serviō.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA: /dɪˈzɜːv/
* (General American) IPA: /dɪˈzɝv/, /dəˈzɝv/
** Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: de‧serve
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)v

### Verb

deserve (third-person singular simple present deserves, present participle deserving, simple past and past participle deserved)
* (transitive) To be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.
    After playing so well, the team really deserved their win.
    After what he did, he deserved to go to prison.
    This argument deserves a closer examination.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 11:6:God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
** 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century:John Gay deserved to be a favourite.
** 1967, The Pacific Reporter, page 510:the grantees named in the questioned deed executed by their father richly deserved receiving the family home.
** 2008, Michael Walzer, Spheres Of Justice: A Defense Of Pluralism And Equality, page 24:Perhaps they do, but they don't deserve that the rest of us contribute money or appropriate public funds for the purchase of pictures and the construction of buildings.
* (obsolete) To earn, win.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:That gentle Lady, whom I loue and serue, / After long suit and weary seruicis, / Did aske me, how I could her loue deserue, / And how she might be sure, that I would neuer swerue.
* (obsolete) To reward, to give in return for service.
** 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XXX, in Le Morte Darthur, book VIII:Gramercy saide the kynge / & I lyue sir Lambegus I shal deserue hit / And thenne sir Lambegus armed hym / and rode after as fast as he myghte(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call; / I may command at most. Get weapons, ho! / And raise some special officers of night. / On, good Roderigo: I'll deserve your pains.
* (obsolete) To serve; to treat; to benefit.
** c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman
    A man that hath / So well deserved me.

#### Usage notes

* This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
* This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

#### Synonyms

* merit
* See also Thesaurus:deserve

#### Derived terms

* deservant
* deserveless
* deserver
* undeserve
* undeserver
* well-deserved

#### Related terms

* desert
* serve someone right

#### Further reading

* “deserve”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* “deserve”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Veeders, severed