Server vs. Switch — What's the Difference?

One who serves food and drink. See Usage Note at waiter.

In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of switch is an electromechanical device consisting of one or more sets of movable electrical contacts connected to external circuits.

Something, such as a tray, that is used in serving food and drink.

A device for making and breaking the connection in an electric circuit

An altar server.

An act of changing to or adopting one thing in place of another

(Law) One who serves a legal process, such as a summons or court order.

A slender, flexible shoot cut from a tree.

(Sports) The player who serves, as in court games.

A set of points on a railway track.

A file server.

A tress of false or detached hair tied at one end, used in hairdressing to supplement natural hair.

A computer that processes requests for HTML and other documents that are components of webpages.

Change the position, direction, or focus of

(computing) A program that provides services to other programs or devices, either in the same computer or over a computer network.

Beat or flick with or as if with a switch.

(computing) A computer dedicated to running such programs.

An exchange or a swap, especially one done secretly.

One who serves.

A transference or shift, as of opinion or attention.

A waitress or waiter.

A device used to break or open an electric circuit or to divert current from one conductor to another.

The player who serves the ball.

A device consisting of two sections of railroad track and accompanying apparatus used to transfer rolling stock from one track to another.

(Christianity) A priest's attendant at the celebration of the Eucharist.

A slender flexible rod, stick, or twig, especially one used for whipping.

A tray for dishes.

The bushy tip of the tail of certain animals

A spoon for serving food.

A thick strand of real or synthetic hair used as part of a coiffure.

One who serves.

A flailing or lashing, as with a slender rod

A tray for dishes; a salver.

To exchange

A person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a restaurant)

To shift, transfer, or divert

(court games) the player who serves to start a point

To connect, disconnect, or divert (an electric current) by operating a switch.

(computer science) a computer that provides client stations with access to files and printers as shared resources to a computer network

To cause (an electric current or appliance) to begin or cease operation

Utensil used in serving food or drink

(Informal) To produce as if by operating a control. Often used with on

To move (rolling stock) from one track to another; shunt.

To whip with a switch, especially in punishing a child.

To jerk or swish abruptly or sharply

To make or undergo a shift or an exchange

To swish sharply from side to side.

A device to turn electric current on and off or direct its flow.

A change or exchange.

A movable section of railroad track which allows the train to be directed down one of two destination tracks; (set of) points.

A slender woody plant stem used as a whip; a thin, flexible rod, associated with corporal punishment in the United States.

(musical instruments) rute.

(computer science) A command line notation allowing specification of optional behavior.

A programming construct that takes different actions depending on the value of an expression.

A networking device connecting multiple wires, allowing them to communicate simultaneously, when possible. Compare to the less efficient hub device that solely duplicates network packets to each wire.

(telecommunication) A system of specialized relays, computer hardware, or other equipment which allows the interconnection of a calling party's telephone line with any called party's line.

(genetics) A mechanism within DNA that activates or deactivates a gene.

(BDSM) One who is willing to take either a submissive or a dominant role in a sexual relationship.

(historical) A separate mass or tress of hair, or of some substance (such as jute) made to resemble hair, formerly worn on the head by women.

(card games) A variant of crazy eights where one card, such as an ace, reverses the direction of play.

(transitive) To exchange.

(transitive) To change (something) to the specified state using a switch.

To whip or hit with a switch.

(intransitive) To change places, tasks, etc.

To get angry suddenly; to quickly or unreasonably become enraged.

To swing or whisk.

To be swung or whisked.

To trim.

To turn from one railway track to another; to transfer by a switch; generally with off, from, etc.

(ecclesiastical) To shift to another circuit.

(snowboarding) Pertaining to riding with the front and back feet swapped round compared to one's normal position.

Pertaining to skiing backwards.

A small, flexible twig or rod.

A movable part of a rail; or of opposite rails, for transferring cars from one track to another.

A separate mass or trees of hair, or of some substance (at jute) made to resemble hair, worn on the head by women.

A device for shifting an electric current to another circuit, or for making and breaking a circuit.

To strike with a switch or small flexible rod; to whip.

To swing or whisk; as, to switch a cane.

To trim, as, a hedge.

To turn from one railway track to another; to transfer by a switch; - generally with off, from, etc.; as, to switch off a train; to switch a car from one track to another.

To shift to another circuit.

To walk with a jerk.

Control consisting of a mechanical or electrical or electronic device for making or breaking or changing the connections in a circuit

An event in which one thing is substituted for another;

Hairpiece consisting of a tress of false hair; used by women to give shape to a coiffure

Railroad track having two movable rails and necessary connections; used to turn a train from one track to another or to store rolling stock

A flexible implement used as an instrument of punishment

A basketball maneuver; two defensive players shift assignments so that each guards the player usually guarded by the other

The act of changing one thing or position for another;

Change over, change around, or switch over

Exchange or give (something) in exchange for

Lay aside, abandon, or leave for another;

Make a shift in or exchange of;

Cause to go on or to be engaged or set in operation;

Flog with or as if with a flexible rod

Reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action)