reserve

Verb

Plain form
reserve

Third-person singular
reserves

Past tense
reserved

Past participle
reserved

Present participle
reserving

(transitive) If you reserve a room, a table, seat etc. you arrange for it to be kept for you, usually for a particular date and time.
This parking spot is reserved for the general manager.

We had reserved a room at the hotel.
(transitive) When you're cooking, if you reserve something, you put it aside to use later.
Cook pasta as directed on package and reserve 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water.
(transitive) If you reserve something for a particular situation, you usually don't use it except in that situation.
She spoke to me in a voice usually reserved for young children.
(transitive) If you reserve the right to do something, you let people know that these are your legal rights and you may use or defend them.
This program is copyrighted © 2008 by CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(countable), (usually plural) Reserves are extra amounts of something that are for the future.
Canada has 179 billion barrels of oil reserves - second only to Saudi Arabia.

The central bank's cash and gold reserves have fallen by 25 percent since June 2001.

This special sugar is your body's quick, easy-access energy reserve.

She always had some water in reserve.
(countable & uncountable) Reserve is a feeling of holding back, controlling yourself, and not being very friendly.
We listened to all this talk about change with a certain reserve.
(countable & uncountable) Reserves are extra players on a team, or fighters in an army in case somebody is hurt or needs a rest.
Their best player spent a season on injured reserve after hurting his knee.

She joined the Army Reserve during her time in university.
(countable) A reserve is an area of land or water that is protected from humans.
These lands (such as national parks and nature reserves) supply cities with clean drinking water.
(countable) A reserve (or reservation) is an area of land that belongs to a group of indigenous people, such as a First Nations group in Canada.