Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.
\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.