From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
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Definition: A serif is the little extra stroke found at the end of main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letterforms. Some are subtle and others may be quite pronounced and obvious. In some cases serifs may aid in the readability of a typeface. Serif refers, in general, to any style of type that has serifs. Fonts without serifs are called sans serif.

Serif is also the name of a company that produces a popular line of desktop publishing software including Serif PagePlus for page layout and Serif DrawPlus for illustration.

Examples: "Some of the main classifications of Serif type are: Blackletter, Old Style, Modern, Slab Serif, Transitional, and Informal. Fonts in each classfication share certain similiar characteristics including the shape or appearance of their serifs."