serve one's time

English

Verb

serve one's time (third-person singular simple present serves one's time, present participle serving one's time, simple past and past participle served one's time)

1. To hold a professional, political, etc. position for a set period of time.
2. Alternative form of serve time (“serve a jail sentence”)

Further reading

• “serve one's time”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.