(a.) Being at hand, within reach or call, within certain
contemplated limits; -- opposed to absent.
(a.) Now existing, or in process; begun but not ended; now in
view, or under consideration; being at this time; not past or future;
as, the present session of Congress; the present state of affairs; the
present instance.
(a.) Not delayed; immediate; instant; coincident.
(a.) Ready; quick in emergency; as a present wit.
(a.) Favorably attentive; propitious.
(a.) Present time; the time being; time in progress now, or at
the moment contemplated; as, at this present.
(a.) Present letters or instrument, as a deed of conveyance, a
lease, letter of attorney, or other writing; as in the phrase, " Know
all men by these presents," that is, by the writing itself, " per has
literas praesentes; " -- in this sense, rarely used in the singular.
(a.) A present tense, or the form of the verb denoting the
present tense.
(a.) To bring or introduce into the presence of some one,
especially of a superior; to introduce formally; to offer for
acquaintance; as, to present an envoy to the king; (with the reciprocal
pronoun) to come into the presence of a superior.
(a.) To exhibit or offer to view or notice; to lay before one's
perception or cognizance; to set forth; to present a fine appearance.
(a.) To pass over, esp. in a ceremonious manner; to give in
charge or possession; to deliver; to make over.
(a.) To make a gift of; to bestow; to give, generally in a
formal or ceremonious manner; to grant; to confer.
(a.) Hence: To endow; to bestow a gift upon; to favor, as with
a donation; also, to court by gifts.
(a.) To present; to personate.
(a.) To nominate to an ecclesiastical benefice; to offer to the
bishop or ordinary as a candidate for institution.
(a.) To nominate for support at a public school or other
institution .
(a.) To lay before a public body, or an official, for
consideration, as before a legislature, a court of judicature, a
corporation, etc.; as, to present a memorial, petition, remonstrance,
or indictment.
(a.) To lay before a court as an object of inquiry; to give
notice officially of, as a crime of offence; to find or represent
judicially; as, a grand jury present certain offenses or nuisances, or
whatever they think to be public injuries.
(a.) To bring an indictment against .
(a.) To aim, point, or direct, as a weapon; as, to present a
pistol or the point of a sword to the breast of another.
(v. i.) To appear at the mouth of the uterus so as to be
perceptible to the finger in vaginal examination; -- said of a part of
an infant during labor.
(n.) Anything presented or given; a gift; a donative; as, a
Christmas present.
(n.) The position of a soldier in presenting arms; as, to stand
at present.
