reserve

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈzɜːv/, US /rɪˈzɝːv/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reserven,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French reserver (“to set aside, withhold”) (12th century),^[4][2] and directly from Latin reservāre (“to keep back, save up”),^[4][2] from re- “back” and servare “to keep, save, protect”,^[4][2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to protect”).^[4] The noun is from French réserve,^[2][3] or from the English verb.^[4][6] It is related to conserve and preserve.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To keep for future use; to store up”: 1340 in the OED,^[8] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[4] Barnhart has 1357, in the sense “to retain (jurisdiction)”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

To keep back for a later time is from 1382,^[8] and to keep as one's own from the late 14th century.^[4] The noun meant a storage place in 1644 and something stored up before 1658;^[2][8] Etymonline dates “something stored up” to the 1610s.^[4] Troops withheld from action for later use are from 1648,^[8][2] and the national reserve forces from 1866.^[4][8] Self-restraint, a habit of keeping back one's feelings, is from the 1650s,^[4] 1655 in Barnhart.^[2] The adjective, kept in reserve, is from 1719.^[4][2] A district set apart for a purpose, as a nature reserve, is from 1805;^[4] capital kept on hand by a bank is from 1866,^[4][8] and known amounts of oil or minerals from 1912.^[4][8] In sport, a substitute player is from 1900.^[8] “To book”, as a seat or table, is from 1935.^[4] Reservation, from 1377, gained the sense of land set aside for an American Indian people later.^[2]

Timeline

• 1340 – verb, to keep for future use.^[8]
• 1644 – noun, a storage place.^[2]
• 1648 – reserve troops.^[8][2]
• 1655 – self-restraint.^[2]
• 1719 – adjective.^[4][2]
• 1805 – a district set apart.^[4]
• 1866 – a bank's reserve; reserve forces.^[4][8]
• 1900 – a substitute player.^[8]
• 1912 – reserves of oil or minerals.^[4][8]
• 1935 – to book.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To keep back for future use or a special purpose.
2. To set apart for a particular person; to book: reserve a table.
3. To keep for oneself; to retain: reserve the right to refuse.
4. To put off (a decision, as a judgment) to a later time.

Noun

1. Something kept back for future use: reserves of food.
2. Self-restraint in speech or manner; reticence.
3. Capital held back by a bank or business to meet expected demands.
4. A part of the armed forces kept for emergencies, or troops held back from action.
5. An area of land set apart for a purpose: a nature reserve.
6. In sport, a substitute player.

Adjective

1. Held in reserve: a reserve supply.

Word family

• reservable
• reserver
• unreserve
• reserve bank
• reserve buoyancy
• gold reserve

Related words

• reservist
• reservation
• reservoir
• reserved
• conserve
• preserve
• observe

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press