curb service

English

Sign for library curb service

Alternative forms

• curbside service

Noun

curb service (uncountable)

1. (chiefly US, somewhat dated, sometimes hyphenated when used attributively) An exchange, such as ordering and delivery of fast food, which occurs when a worker comes outside to interact with a customer who remains within his or her stopped vehicle.
   • 1958 July 21, “Miscellany”, in Time, retrieved 1 August 2014:

     Ernest H. Carter was fined $550 for drunken driving after he pulled into a brightly illuminated suburban police station, tooted his horn, told a cop he was there for curb service, ordered coffee and a hamburger.

   • 1987 July 4, William E. Geist, “About New York: July 3d Languor”, in New York Times, retrieved 1 August 2014:

     Despite a reported police crackdown, young men selling illegal fireworks were providing their usual Fourth of July curb service to passing motorists yesterday.

   • 2005 April 14, Bruce C.T. Wright, “Four Post Offices Will Close Late for Tax Filers”, in Washington Post, retrieved 1 August 2014:

     The U.S. Postal Service says "curb service" will also be available tomorrow night so that taxpayers can drive up to the post office and hand the forms, in stamped envelopes, to postal employees.

2. (chiefly US) Convenient pickup of one's items, such as garbage or baggage, from the roadside; convenient delivery of items to the roadside near one's location.
   • 1985 August 2, Dudley Clendinen, “About Boston: A Garbage Dump That Is the Town Showpiece”, in New York Times, retrieved 1 August 2014:

     George Barry, the dump's manager, found $8,500 in negotiable securities. He delivered them to the door of the woman who had thrown them out, a kind of reverse curb service.

   • 2007 January 9, “If I use Southwest Airlines online check-in.......?”, in Yahoo Answers, retrieved 1 August 2014:

     In San Diego, they have curb service check-in. You show your eTicket and drop your bags off with a skycap.

   • 2013 March 18, “Trash Pickup”, in City of Velda City, Missouri, retrieved 1 August 2014:

     Two bulk items are allowed for curb service on the last Friday of each month only.

See also

• drive-through

References

• “curb service”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.