Prescriptive
(Pre*scrip"tive) a. [L. praescriptivus of a demurrer or legal exception.] (Law) Consisting
in, or acquired by, immemorial or long-continued use and enjoyment; as, a prescriptive right of title; pleading
the continuance and authority of long custom.
The right to be drowsy in protracted toil has become prescriptive.
J. M. Mason. Prescriptively
(Pre*scrip"tive*ly), adv. By prescription.
Prescutum
(||Pre*scu"tum) n.; pl. Prescuta [NL. See Præ-, and Scutum.] (Zoöl.) The first of the four
pieces composing the dorsal part, or tergum, of a thoracic segment of an insect. It is usually small and
inconspicuous.
Preseance
(Pre"se*ance) n. [F. préséance. See Preside.] Priority of place in sitting.[Obs.] Carew.
Preselect
(Pre`se*lect") v. t. To select beforehand.
Presence
(Pres"ence) n. [F. présence, L. praesentia. See Present.]
1. The state of being present, or of being within sight or call, or at hand; — opposed to absence.
2. The place in which one is present; the part of space within one's ken, call, influence, etc.; neighborhood
without the intervention of anything that forbids intercourse.
Wrath shell be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.
Milton. 3. Specifically, neighborhood to the person of one of superior of exalted rank; also, presence chamber.
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts.
Shak.
An't please your grace, the two great cardinals.
Wait in the presence.
Shak. 4. The whole of the personal qualities of an individual; person; personality; especially, the person of a
superior, as a sovereign.
The Sovran Presence thus replied.
Milton. 5. An assembly, especially of person of rank or nobility; noble company.
Odmar, of all this presence does contain,
Give her your wreath whom you esteem most fair.
Dryden. 6. Port, mien; air; personal appearence. "Rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect." Bacon.
A graceful presence bespeaks acceptance.
Collier. Presence chamber, or Presence room, the room in which a great personage receives company.
Addison. " Chambers of presence." Bacon. — Presence of mind, that state of the mind in which all
its faculties are alert, prompt, and acting harmoniously in obedience to the will, enabling one to reach,
as it were spontaneously or by intuition, just conclusions in sudden emergencies.
Presensation
(Pre`sen*sa"tion) n. Previous sensation, notion, or idea. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.
Presension
(Pre*sen"sion) n. [L. praesensio, fr. praesentire to perceive beforehand. See Presentient.]
Previous perception. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
Present
(Pres"ent) a. [F. présent, L. praesens,-entis, that is before one, in sight or at hand, p. p. of
praeesse to be before; prae before + esse to be. See Essence.]
