4. To make a gift of; to bestow; to give, generally in a formal or ceremonious manner; to grant; to confer.
My last, least offering, I present thee now.
Cowper. 5. Hence: To endow; to bestow a gift upon; to favor, as with a donation; also, to court by gifts.
Octavia presented the poet for him admirable elegy on her son Marcellus.
Dryden. 6. To present; to personate. [Obs.] Shak.
7. In specific uses; (a) To nominate to an ecclesiastical benefice; to offer to the bishop or ordinary as a
candidate for institution.
The patron of a church may present his clerk to a parsonage or vicarage; that is, may offer him to the
bishop of the diocese to be instituted.
Blackstone. (b) To nominate for support at a public school or other institution . Lamb. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) To bring an indictment
against . [U.S] (f) To aim, point, or direct, as a weapon; as, to present a pistol or the point of a sword
to the breast of another.
Pesent arms (Mil.), the command in response to which the gun is carried perpendicularly in front of
the center of the body, and held there with the left hand grasping it at the lower band, and the right hand
grasping the small of the stock, in token of respect, as in saluting a superior officer; also, the position
taken at such a command.
Present
(Pre*sent"), v. i. (Med.) 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.
Present
(Pres"ent) n. [F. présent .] Anything presented or given; a gift; a donative; as, a Christmas present.
Syn. — Gift; donation; donative; benefaction. See Gift.
Present
(Pre*sent") n. (Mil.) The position of a soldier in presenting arms; as, to stand at present.
Presentable
(Pre*sent"a*ble) a. [Cf. F. présentable.]
1. Capable or admitting of being presented; suitable to be exhibited, represented, or offered; fit to be
brought forward or set forth; hence, fitted to be introduced to another, or to go into society; as, ideas that
are presentable in simple language; she is not presentable in such a gown.
2. Admitting of the presentation of a clergiman; as, a church presentable. [R.] Ayliffe.
