From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe reservesthe reservesBritish English a team that plays when the usual team cannot do so → reserve
Examples from the Corpus
the reserves• Much oxygen had been lost, but the reserves were still ample to sustain a single man.• Training has been all but curtailed; the reserves have not been trained since 1993, he said.• For the rest of the decade the reserves never fell below third place, and were champions a further five times.• In March 1988 Glencar announced that it had found deposits of gold, estimating the reserves at £300 million.• I've played the last three or four games for the reserves, which we've won.• Anyway, is there a vacancy in the reserves midfield for a player of Gascoigne's quality!!• It would be interesting to know whether the same criteria were used in the restructuring of the reserves.• Reality overtakes it and it hasn't the reserves to claw back. 