Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.