\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.

\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.]

\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.