Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.