If you look closely at the word "reserve," you can see how it has two meaningful bits: "re-," which means "back;" and "serve," which in this word means "keep, save, or protect."
To reserve things is to keep them back so that they can be used later for a specific person or reason. For example, to reserve a seat or a chair is to keep it for someone who's coming later to use it.
To reserve a rental car or a hotel room, or to reserve a seat at a concert or on an airplane is to buy it ahead of time, so that it's saved for you to use it. If you're going to a fancy restaurant, you might need to make reservations: to call ahead of time to tell the restaurant when you're coming and how many people you're bringing, so they can reserve a table for you.
If you've reserved some money to spend on your vacation, that means you've saved it for this special trip: you've put it aside, making sure to keep it for the trip and not spend it on anything else. You might also reserve your money to purchase something that's really important to you. Wayne here had to reserve a lot of money to buy this guitar.
"Reserve" is such a useful word that it has many, many meanings, and we won't explore them all right now. It would take too long! But let's look at a few.
Reserves can be extra materials that are stored for later. Did we run out of Goldfish crackers? Nope, don't worry; I've got reserves down in the basement! That means I've got extra boxes of Goldfish tucked away.
And, reserves can be extra people who are trained and ready to join the military when their country needs them. They're extra forces that can be called in as needed.
So far, we've seen that all kinds of objects and people can be reserved. But you can also reserve things that you can't see or touch. You might reserve your silliest jokes for your closest friends. That means you save, or keep, those jokes and tell them only to your closest friends.
You might reserve your best effort for the final part of the game. That means you wait to make your best effort until the game is almost over.
You might reserve your loudest, most powerful voice for when you're outdoors. That means you use your loudest voice only when you're outside.
And you might reserve your judgment about how good or bad something is until you've seen or experienced plenty of it. That means you wait and see, and you don't give out your judgment until you've seen enough.
If you're not a very outgoing person, then you might reserve almost all of your smiles, comments, and laughter for only your closest friends or family members; with most people, you're quiet and shy, not willing to say much. In that case, you're a reserved person. To be reserved is to be quiet, as if you're not willing to share much of yourself with people.
And if you're full of reservation, or if you have reservations about doing something, it means you're not sure about it and you're not very willing to do it. You have doubts. You have feelings of not wanting to do it. I'd have plenty of reservations about jumping off this cliff. Mmm... no, thanks.
Remember: to reserve something is to keep it or set it aside for a special reason. And if you're reserved, you're shy and quiet, as if you keep most of yourself hidden away.
Idea 1: "I'm reserving (a certain amount of time or money) to spend on (some important item or activity)."
Idea 2: "At first, I was reserved (with a certain group of people, or at a certain new place); soon, though, I opened up and had a great time (doing some activity).”
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