Adjacent Words

Reserve definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RESERVE, v.t. rezerv'. [L. reservo; re and servo, to keep.]
1. To keep in store for future or other use; to withhold from present use for another purpose. The farmer sells his corn, reserving only what is necessary for his family.
Hast thou seen the treasures of hail, which I have reserved against the day of trouble? Job 38.
2. To keep; to hold; to retain.
Will he reserve his anger for ever? Jeremiah 3.
3. To lay up and keep for a future time. 2 Peter 2.
Reserve your kind looks and language for private hours.
RESERVE, n. rezerv'.
1. That which is kept for other or future use; that which is retained from present use or disposal.
The virgins, besides the oil in their lamps, carried likewise a reserve in some other vessel for a continual supply.
2. Something in the mind withheld from disclosure.
However any one may concur in the general scheme, it is still with certain reserves and deviations.
3. Exception; something withheld.
Is knowledge so despis'd? or envy, or what reserve forbids to taste?
4. Exception in favor.
Each has some darling lust, which pleads for a reserve.
5. Restraint of freedom in words or actions; backwardness; caution in personal behavior. Reserve may proceed from modesty, bashfulness, prudence, prudery or sullenness.
My soul surpris'd, and from her sex disjoin'd, left all reserve, and all the sex behind.
6. In law, reservation.
In reserve, in store; in keeping for other or future use. He has large quantities of wheat in reserve. He has evidence or arguments in reserve.
Body of reserve, in military affairs, the third or last line of an army drawn up for battle, reserved to sustain the other lines as occasion may require; a body of troops kept for an exigency.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: formality and propriety of manner [syn: modesty, reserve]
2: something kept back or saved for future use or a special purpose [syn: reserve, backlog, stockpile]
3: an athlete who plays only when a starter on the team is replaced [syn: substitute, reserve, second-stringer]
4: (medicine) potential capacity to respond in order to maintain vital functions
5: a district that is reserved for particular purpose [syn: reservation, reserve]
6: armed forces that are not on active duty but can be called in an emergency [syn: military reserve, reserve]
7: the trait of being uncommunicative; not volunteering anything more than necessary [syn: reserve, reticence, taciturnity] v
1: hold back or set aside, especially for future use or contingency; "they held back their applause in anticipation"
2: give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause; "I will earmark this money for your research"; "She sets aside time for meditation every day" [syn: allow, appropriate, earmark, set aside, reserve]
3: obtain or arrange (for oneself) in advance; "We managed to reserve a table at Maxim's"
4: arrange for and reserve (something for someone else) in advance; "reserve me a seat on a flight"; "The agent booked tickets to the show for the whole family"; "please hold a table at Maxim's" [syn: reserve, hold, book]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (reserved; reserving) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French reserver, from Latin reservare, literally, to keep back, from re- + servare to keep — more at conserve Date: 14th century 1. a. to hold in reserve ; keep back <reserve grain for seed> b. to set aside (part of the consecrated elements) at the Eucharist for future use c. to retain or hold over to a future time or place ; defer <reserve one's judgment on a plan> d. to make legal reservation of 2. to set or have set aside or apart <reserve a hotel room> Synonyms: see keep • reservable adjective II. noun Usage: often attributive Date: 1648 1. something reserved or set aside for a particular purpose, use, or reason: as a. (1) a military force withheld from action for later decisive use — usually used in plural (2) forces not in the field but available (3) the military forces of a country not part of the regular services; also reservist b. a tract (as of public land) set apart ; reservation 2. something stored or kept available for future use or need ; stock 3. an act of reserving ; qualification 4. a. restraint, closeness, or caution in one's words and actions b. forbearance from making a full explanation, complete disclosure, or free expression of one's mind 5. archaic secret 6. a. money or its equivalent kept in hand or set apart usually to meet liabilities b. the liquid resources of a nation for meeting international payments 7. substitute 8. reserve price 9. a wine made from select grapes, bottled on the maker's premises, and aged differently from the maker's other wines of the same vintage

U.S. Military Dictionary

1. Portion of a body of troops that is kept to the rear, or withheld from action at the beginning of an engagement, in order to be available for a decisive movement. 2. Members of the Military Services who are not in active service but who are subject to call to active duty. 3. Portion of an appropriation or contract authorization held or set aside for future operations or contingencies and, in respect to which, administrative authorization to incur commitments or obligations has been withheld. See also operational reserve.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 postpone, put aside, keep back for a later occasion or special use. 2 order to be specially retained or allocated for a particular person or at a particular time. 3 retain or secure, esp. by formal or legal stipulation (reserve the right to). 4 postpone delivery of (judgement etc.) (reserved my comments until the end). --n. 1 a thing reserved for future use; an extra stock or amount (a great reserve of strength; huge energy reserves). 2 a limitation, qualification, or exception attached to something (accept your offer without reserve). 3 a self-restraint; reticence; lack of cordiality (difficult to overcome his reserve). b (in artistic or literary expression) absence from exaggeration or ill-proportioned effects. 4 a company's profit added to capital. 5 (in sing. or pl.) assets kept readily available as cash or at a central bank, or as gold or foreign exchange (reserve currency). 6 (in sing. or pl.) a troops withheld from action to reinforce or protect others. b forces in addition to the regular army, navy, airforce, etc., but available in an emergency. 7 a member of the military reserve. 8 an extra player chosen to be a possible substitute in a team. 9 a place reserved for special use, esp. as a habitat for a native tribe or for wildlife (game reserve; nature reserve). 10 the intentional suppression of the truth (exercised a certain amount of reserve). 11 (in the decoration of ceramics or textiles) an area which still has the original colour of the material or the colour of the background. Phrases and idioms: in reserve unused and available if required. reserve grade Austral. a second-grade team. reserve price the lowest acceptable price stipulated for an item sold at an auction. with all (or all proper) reserve without endorsing. Derivatives: reservable adj. reserver n. Etymology: ME f. OF reserver f. L reservare (as RE-, servare keep)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reserve Re*serve", n. 1. (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 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. 2. In exhibitions, a distinction which indicates that the recipient will get a prize if another should be disqualified. 3. (Calico Printing) A resist. 4. A preparation used on an object being electroplated to fix the limits of the deposit. 5. See Army organization, above.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reserve Re*serve" (r?-z?rv"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reserved. (z?rvd");p. pr. & vb. n. Reserving.] [F. r['e]server, 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. 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. --Gen. xxvii. 35. Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble? --Job xxxviii. 22,23. Reserve your kind looks and language for private hours. --Swift. 3. To make an exception of; to except. [R.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reserve Re*serve", n. [F. r['e]serve.] 1. The act of reserving, or keeping back; reservation. However any one may concur in the general scheme, it is still with certain reserves and deviations. --Addison. 2. That which is reserved, or kept back, as for future use. The virgins, besides the oil in their lamps, carried likewise a reserve in some other vessel for a continual supply. --Tillotson. 3. That which is excepted; exception. Each has some darling lust, which pleads for a reserve. --Rogers. 4. Restraint of freedom in words or actions; backwardness; caution in personal behavior. My soul, surprised, and from her sex disjoined, Left all reserve, and all the sex, behind. --Prior. The clergyman's shy and sensitive reserve had balked this scheme. --Hawthorne. 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. 6. (Mil.) 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. 7. (Banking) Funds kept on hand to meet liabilities. 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. Syn: Reservation; retention; limitation; backwardness; reservedness; coldness; restraint; shyness; coyness; modesty.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(reserves, reserving, reserved) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If something is reserved for a particular person or purpose, it is kept specially for that person or purpose. A double room with a balcony overlooking the sea had been reserved for him... = set aside VERB: usu passive, be V-ed for n 2. If you reserve something such as a table, ticket, or magazine, you arrange for it to be kept specially for you, rather than sold or given to someone else. I'll reserve a table for five... VERB: V n 3. A reserve is a supply of something that is available for use when it is needed. The Gulf has 65 per cent of the world's oil reserves... N-COUNT: usu with supp 4. In sports, a reserve is someone who is available to play as part of a team if one of the members is ill or cannot play. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use substitute) He ended up as a reserve, but still qualified for a team gold medal. = substitute N-COUNT 5. A nature reserve is an area of land where the animals, birds, and plants are officially protected. Marine biologists are calling for Cardigan Bay to be created a marine nature reserve to protect the dolphins. N-COUNT: usu supp N 6. If someone shows reserve, they keep their feelings hidden. His natural reserve made him appear self-conscious. 7. If you have something in reserve, you have it available for use when it is needed. ...the bottle of whisky that he kept in reserve... PHRASE: PHR after v 8. to reserve judgment: see judgment to reserve the right: see right

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Keep, hold, retain, husband, set by, lay by, lay up, store up, withhold. 2. Except, make an exception of. II. n. 1. Reservation, something reserved. 2. Constraint, restraint, backwardness, cautious behavior, coldness, closeness, reservedness, retention, uncommunicativeness, reticence. 3. Exception, something excepted. 4. Reservation, restriction. 5. Shyness, coyness, taciturnity, modesty, demureness.

Moby Thesaurus

Indian reservation, abstain, accessible, adjourn, allocate, allot, aloofness, alternate, alternative, aplomb, appoint, appropriate to, archives, assign, assign to, auxiliary, available, avoidance, backlog, backup, backwardness, bank, bashfulness, bespeak, bird sanctuary, blankness, book, brachylogy, brevity, brief, briefness, brusqueness, cache, charter, chilliness, coldness, compactness, compendiousness, conciseness, concision, conserve, constraint, continue, contract for, coolness, counterfeit, crispness, curtness, defer, delay, destine, detachment, detail, detain, discreetness, discretion, dispense with, distance, do without, dodging, drag out, dummy, earmark, employ, engage, equivalent, ersatz, evasion, expressionlessness, extend, extra, fake, fate, forbear, forest preserve, forgo, formality, fresh, frigidity, frostiness, fudging, fund, game reserve, guardedness, hang fire, hang up, hedging, held back, held in reserve, held out, hesitancy, hesitation, hire, hoard, hold, hold back, hold off, hold over, hold up, husband, iciness, imitation, impassiveness, impassivity, impersonality, in abeyance, in hand, in readiness, in reserve, in store, inaccessibility, introversion, inventory, keep, keep back, keep by one, keep in hand, keep in reserve, keep in store, keep on hand, lay aside, lay by, lay over, let alone, library, limit, limitation, lot, make assignments, makeshift, mark off, mark out for, mint, mock, modesty, museum, national forest, national park, nest egg, new, not touch, not use, on call, on hand, on tap, ordain, original, paradise, park, phony, pigeonhole, pinch, pithiness, pointedness, portion off, postpone, preengage, preserve, pristine, prolong, prorogate, prorogue, protract, provisional, proxy, push aside, put apart, put aside, put by, put off, put on ice, ready, recess, recruit, refrain, register, reinforcements, remoteness, repression, reservation, reserve fund, reserve supply, reservedness, reserves, reservoir, resource, restraint, restrict, restrict to, restriction, retain, reticence, reticency, retirement, retiring disposition, sanctuary, save, save up, saved, savings, schedule, secondary, secure, self-control, self-restraint, sententiousness, set, set apart, set aside, set by, set off, shelve, shift off, shortness, sign on, sign up, sign up for, sinking fund, sleep on, something in reserve, spare, stand over, standoffishness, state forest, stave off, stay, stock, stockpile, stopgap, store, stored, stretch out, subduedness, substitute, succinctness, summariness, supply, suppression, suspend, suspended, table, taciturnity, tag, take a recess, take into employment, take on, temporary, tentative, terseness, to spare, token, unaffability, unapplied, unapproachability, unbeaten, uncongeniality, unconsumed, undemonstrativeness, unemployed, unexercised, unexpansiveness, unexpended, unexpended balance, unhandled, unspent, untapped, untouched, untrodden, unused, unutilized, utility, vicarious, waive, waived, wilderness preserve, wildlife preserve, withdrawal, withdrawnness, withhold