I. R ˈrezəvˌwär (-zəv- by r- dissimilation ), -zəˌvȯ(ə)r also -zərvˌw- or -zərˌv- or -vˌwȯ(ə)r or ÷ -ˌvȯi sometimes -ˌvär or by r- dissimilation -vˌwä or -ˌvȯ or -ˌvä; - R -zəvˌwȧ(r, -ˌvȯ(ə) also -vˌwȯ(ə) or ÷ -ˌvȯi sometimes -ˌvȧ(r noun
( -s )
Etymology: French réservoir, from Middle French, from reserver to reserve + -oir -ory
1. : a place where something is kept in store: as
a. : a place where water is collected and kept in quantity for use when wanted ; especially : an artificial lake in which water is impounded for domestic and industrial use, irrigation, hydroelectric power, flood control, or other purposes
b. : a part of an apparatus in which a liquid is held
the reservoir of an oil lamp
c. : a tank on the back of an old-fashioned kitchen range in which water is kept hot by escaped heat from the oven
2.
a. : a space (as an enlargement of a vessel or the cavity of a glandular acinus) in which a body fluid or other product is stored
oil reservoirs on a leaf
b. : the enlarged posterior portion of the gullet of some flagellates
3. : an extra supply : reserve , store
4.
a. : a body of rock sufficiently porous to permit the accumulation of water, petroleum, or natural gas
b. : the gathering ground where snow collects to form a glacier : the area covered by the névé
c. : a space within the earth occupied by molten rock or magma
5. : storage bellows
6.
a. also reservoir host : an organism in which a parasite that is pathogenic for some other species lives and multiplies without damaging its host ; broadly : a noneconomic organism within which a pathogen of economic or medical importance flourishes without regard to its pathogenicity for the reservoir
rats are reservoirs of plague
reservoir hosts are important in the epidemiology of virus diseases
b. : a colony or group of organisms (as noxious animals) that persists when the general population of the species declines and serves as a breeding nucleus
small reservoir populations missed by control operations
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to provide with a reservoir
2. : to collect, store, or keep in or as if in a reservoir