reserve
verb (used with object)
to keep back or save for future use, disposal, treatment, etc.
had been reserving
-
past perfect progressiveof reserve.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"I've got to out-distance him," murmured Tom, looking back over his shoulder, and he let out a little more of the speed he had been reserving.
From Tom Fairfield's Pluck and Luck by Allen Chapman
More than this he would not do, but he brought out something 311 he had been reserving with pride, a few little nuggets of gold.
From The Eye of Dread by Payne Erskine
Being thus baffled, he determined to bring in here a point which he had been reserving to use later, should Milton Hibbard decide to take up the question of Peter Junior’s lameness.
From The Eye of Dread by Payne Erskine
But when Madame de Treymes, at his approach, let him see that it was for him she had been reserving herself, he felt that so graceful an impulse needed no special explanation.
From Madame De Treymes by Edith Wharton
Then, when they talked about sketching, she said how she had missed him, and that she had been reserving the view from Brankham Law, in order that they might sketch it together.
From Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green by Cuthbert Bede
