in reserve

in reserve

1. Stored and set aside for possible (future) use.

   Synonyms: reserve, spare, backup

   • 1958 August, T. S. Lascelles, “Diamond Jubilee of the Waterloo & City Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 523:

     In 1915, concurrent with the L.S.W.R. electrification, power was supplied from the Waterloo sub-station, and the old equipment held in reserve. Some generator sets were removed, and motor generators installed for standby lighting and other services.

   • 1960 December, 'Voyageur', “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 755:

     The Schynige Platte Railway carries on its traffic with no more than four electric locomotives (with one steam locomotive in reserve).

• in store

• “in reserve”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “in reserve”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “in reserve” (US) / “in reserve” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “in reserve”, in Collins English Dictionary.

• reversine, in reverse