noun

• The act of reserving, withholding or keeping back.
• The practice of reserving part of the consecrated bread of the Eucharist for the communion of the sick.
• The act of the pope to reserve to himself the right to nominate to certain benefices.
• Something that is withheld or kept back.
• (often in the plural) A limiting qualification regarding certainty; a doubt.
• (US) A tract of land set apart by the US government for the use of a Native American people; Indian reservation (compare Canadian reserve).
• An arrangement by which accommodation or transport arrangements are secured in advance.
• (UK) The area which separates opposing lanes of traffic on a divided motorway or dual carriageway; see also central reservation.
• (India) The setting aside of a certain percentage of vacancies in government institutions for members of backward and underrepresented communities (defined primarily by caste and tribe).
• (law, politics) A power of an overseeing authority to suspend legislation in the jurisdiction being overseen pending the approval of a higher authority. Such as a provincial/state governor reserving a bill passed by the state/provincial legislature from assent, pending approval of the federal government; or a federal bill passed by federal parliament being reserved by the viceroy pending approval by the crown.