v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Reserved. (z&unr_;rvd");p. pr. & vb. n. Reserving.] [F. réserver, L. reservare, reservatum; pref. re- re- + servare to keep. See Serve.] 1. To keep back; to retain; not to deliver, make over, or disclose. “I have reserved to myself nothing.” Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. Hence, to keep in store for future or special use; to withhold from present use for another purpose or time; to keep; to retain; to make a reservation{7}. Gen. xxvii. 35. In cases where one person or party makes a request to an agent that some accommodation (such as a hotel room or place at a restaurant) be kept (reserved) for their use at a particular time, the word reserve applies both to the action of the person making the request, and to the action of the agent who takes the approproriate action (such as a notation in a book of reservations) to be certain that the accommodation is available at that time. [1913 Webster +PJC]

Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble? Job xxxviii. 22,23. [1913 Webster]

Reserve your kind looks and language for private hours. Swift. [1913 Webster]

3. To make an exception of; to except. [R.] [1913 Webster]

n. [ F. réserve. ] 1. The act of reserving, or keeping back; reservation. [ 1913 Webster ]

However any one may concur in the general scheme, it is still with certain reserves and deviations. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is reserved, or kept back, as for future use. [ 1913 Webster ]

The virgins, besides the oil in their lamps, carried likewise a reserve in some other vessel for a continual supply. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is excepted; exception. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each has some darling lust, which pleads for a reserve. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Restraint of freedom in words or actions; backwardness; caution in personal behavior. [ 1913 Webster ]

My soul, surprised, and from her sex disjoined,
Left all reserve, and all the sex, behind. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

The clergyman's shy and sensitive reserve had balked this scheme. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A tract of land reserved, or set apart, for a particular purpose; as, the Connecticut Reserve in Ohio, originally set apart for the school fund of Connecticut; the Clergy Reserves in Canada, for the support of the clergy. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mil.) (a) A body of troops in the rear of an army drawn up for battle, reserved to support the other lines as occasion may require; a force or body of troops kept for an exigency. (b) troops trained but released from active service, retained as a formal part of the military force, and liable to be recalled to active service in cases of national need (see Army organization, above). [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

7. (Banking) Funds kept on hand to meet liabilities. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Finance) (a) That part of the assets of a bank or other financial institution specially kept in cash in a more or less liquid form as a reasonable provision for meeting all demands which may be made upon it; specif.: (b) (Banking) Usually, the uninvested cash kept on hand for this purpose, called the real reserve. In Great Britain the ultimate real reserve is the gold kept on hand in the Bank of England, largely represented by the notes in hand in its own banking department; and any balance which a bank has with the Bank of England is a part of its reserve. In the United States the reserve of a national bank consists of the amount of lawful money it holds on hand against deposits, which is required by law (in 1913) to be not less than 15 per cent (U. S. Rev. Stat. secs. 5191, 5192), three fifths of which the banks not in a reserve city (which see) may keep deposited as balances in national banks that are in reserve cities (U. S. Rev. Stat. sec. 5192). (c) (Life Insurance) The amount of funds or assets necessary for a company to have at any given time to enable it, with interest and premiums paid as they shall accure, to meet all claims on the insurance then in force as they would mature according to the particular mortality table accepted. The reserve is always reckoned as a liability, and is calculated on net premiums. It is theoretically the difference between the present value of the total insurance and the present value of the future premiums on the insurance. The reserve, being an amount for which another company could, theoretically, afford to take over the insurance, is sometimes called the
reinsurance fund or the
self-insurance fund. For the first year upon any policy the net premium is called the
initial reserve, and the balance left at the end of the year including interest is the
terminal reserve. For subsequent years the initial reserve is the net premium, if any, plus the terminal reserve of the previous year. The portion of the reserve to be absorbed from the initial reserve in any year in payment of losses is sometimes called the
insurance reserve, and the terminal reserve is then called the
investment reserve. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

9. In exhibitions, a distinction which indicates that the recipient will get a prize if another should be disqualified. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

10. (Calico Printing) A resist. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

11. A preparation used on an object being electroplated to fix the limits of the deposit. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Banking) In the national banking system of the United States, any of certain cities in which the national banks are required (U. S. Rev. Stat. sec. 5191) to keep a larger reserve (25 per cent) than the minimum (15 per cent) required of all other banks. The banks in certain of the reserve cities (specifically called central reserve cities) are required to keep their reserve on hand in cash; banks in other reserve cities may keep half of their reserve as deposits in these banks (U. S. Rev. Stat. sec. 5195). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

In reserve, in keeping for other or future use; in store; as, he has large quantities of wheat in reserve; he has evidence or arguments in reserve. --
Reserve air. (Physiol.) Same as Supplemental air, under Supplemental. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Reservation; retention; limitation; backwardness; reservedness; coldness; restraint; shyness; coyness; modesty. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Kept for future or special use, or for an exigency; as, reserved troops; a reserved seat in a theater. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Restrained from freedom in words or actions; backward, or cautious, in communicating one's thoughts and feelings; not free or frank. [ 1913 Webster ]

To all obliging, yet reserved to all. Walsh. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nothing reserved or sullen was to see. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Re*serv"ed*ly adv. -- Re*serv"ed*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One to, or for, whom anything is reserved; -- contrasted with reservor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who reserves. [ 1913 Webster ]