Reserve (r?-z?rvˈ), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reserved. (zrvd");p. pr. & vb. n. Reserving.] [F. réserver, 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.
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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; to make a reservation7. Gen. xxvii. 35. In cases where one person or party makes a request to an agent that some accommodation (such as a hotel room or place at a restaurant) be kept (reserved) for their use at a particular time, the word reserve applies both to the action of the person making the request, and to the action of the agent who takes the approproriate action (such as a notation in a book of reservations) to be certain that the accommodation is available at that time.
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Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble? Job xxxviii. 22,23.
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Reserve your kind looks and language for private hours. Swift.
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3. To make an exception of; to except. [R.]
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Reserved (-z?rvdˈ), a.
1. Kept for future or special use, or for an exigency; as, “reserved troops; a reserved seat in a theater”.
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2. Restrained from freedom in words or actions; backward, or cautious, in communicating one's thoughts and feelings; not free or frank.
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To all obliging, yet reserved to all. Walsh.
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Nothing reserved or sullen was to see. Dryden.
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-- Re*serv"ed*ly (r-zrvˈd-l), adv. -- Re*serv"ed*ness, n.
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