The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Reserve \Re*serve"\, n. [F. r['e]serve.]
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.
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2. That which is reserved, or kept back, as for future use.
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The virgins, besides the oil in their lamps, carried
likewise a reserve in some other vessel for a
continual supply. --Tillotson.
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3. That which is excepted; exception.
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Each has some darling lust, which pleads for a
reserve. --Rogers.
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4. Restraint of freedom in words or actions; backwardness;
caution in personal behavior.
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My soul, surprised, and from her sex disjoined,
Left all reserve, and all the sex, behind. --Prior.
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The clergyman's shy and sensitive reserve had balked
this scheme. --Hawthorne.
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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.
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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.
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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.]