presence 
a being before, in view, or at hand, present, < 
praseH(t-)s, being before or at hand: sec />.<- 
i ni.\ 1. The state of being present; the state 
of being in a certain place, and not in Home 
other place ; being, continuance, or stay in u 
certain place : as, the presence of a planet in a 
particular part of its orbit; specifically, the 
state of being near the speaker or writer or in 
some place upon which his thought is directed. 
The fields appeared covered with people and Baskets, to 
tempt vi on snore ; but nothing? was to be had without his 
pretence. Quoted In Capt. John Smith'* Works, I. 218. 
Thy absence hath been very long in my conceit, and thy 
pretence much desired. 
WinOirop, Hist New England, I. 431. 
The rich, . . . intent 
On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus 
To all the violence of lawless hands 
Resign the scenes their pretence might protect. 
Cowper, Task, iv. 692. 
2. Companionship; attendance; company; so- 
ciety. 
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of 
his pretence saved them. Isa. Ixiii. 9. 
To-night we bold a solemn supper, sir, 
And 111 request your pretence. 
Shale., Macbeth, lit 1. 15. 
If he see you himselfe, his presence is the worst visitation ; 
for if he cannut heale your sicknes, he will bee sure to 
helpe it. 
lip. Earle, Micro-cosmograpliie, A Meere Dull Phisitian. 
Phoebe's pretence, and the contiguity of her fresh life to 
his blighted one, was usually all that he required. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, ix. 
3. Immediate neighborhood or vicinity; close 
proximity. 
Full many a noble war-song had he sung 
E'vn in the pretence of an enemy's fleet. 
Tennyson, Guinevere. 
4. The state of being face to face witli a great 
personage or with a superior. 
The shepherd Dorus answered with such a trembling 
voice . . . that it was some sport to the young ladies, 
thinking it want of education wnich made him so discoun- 
tenanced with unwonted pretence. Sir P. Sulney, Arcadia. 
They rise to their husbands, and stand while they are 
in pretence. Pwrchat, Pilgrimage, p. 2!>:i. 
5. An assembly, particularly of persons of 
rank ; a noble company. 
Being so old a man. It was likely that he knew most of 
any man in that presence and company. 
Laliiner, Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 15M. 
Here is like to be a good pretence of Worthies. 
Shale., L. L. L., v. 2. 036. 
6. Personality; the sura of the qualities of an 
individual; personage. 
Lord of thy pretence and no land beside. 
Shak., K. John, I. 1. 137. 
slow ly passed that august Presence 
Down the thronged and shouting street. 
Whiltier, The .Sycamores. 
7. Aspect ; appearance; demeanor; mien; air. 
Affable grace, speeche eloquent, and wise ; 
Stately prtetcnct, suche as uecomcthone 
Whoe seemesto rule realmes by her lookes alone. 
Pvttenhatn, Partheniades, viii. 
Be, as thy pretence is, gracious and kind. 
sinii... Sonnets, v 
I am the neatllrat-made gallant i' the company, and 
have the best pretence. B. Janton, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1. 
Nay, nay, flod wot, so thou wert nobly born, 
Thou hast a pleasautpregfiu?. 
Tenni/ton, Oareth and Lynette. 
8. An apparition ; a vision ; a specter. 
A deadly silence step by step increased, 
Vlltll It seemed a horrid pretence there, 
And not a man but felt the terror In his hair. 
Kent*, I .ami:,, II. 
The only other time he was conscious of a pretence was, 
he told me, one day when, coming out of one of the rooms 
on the upper lobby, he felt as if some person brushed 
closely by him, but tie saw nothing. 
/"roe. Sac. Ptych. Itetearch, I. 111. 
9. A presence-chamber. 
Her* lies Juliet, and her beauty makes 
ThU vault a feasting pretence full of light 
Shale., K. and J., v. 3. 8(1. 
The next chamber within It, which is the Pretence, U 
very falre. Cory at, Crudities, I. K. 
The rut of y* apartments are rarely gilded and carv'd, 
w" 1 some gixKi modern paintings. In the pretence hang 3 
huge branches of chrystal. Ktelyn, Diary, Nov. 18, 1648. 
Doctrine of the real presence, the doctrine that the 
body and blood of Christ are present in the encharlat. 
This view Is held by the Roman Catholic and Urcek 
i Inn dies, and In a modified form by the Anglican Church. 
The Roman Catholic position Is thus denned : "In the an 
gust sacrament of the holy Eucharist, after the consecra- 
tion of the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ, true 
God and man, Is truly, really, and substantially contained 
under the species of those st-iinlMe things." (Canon* ami 
UrcrretuJ the Council oj Trent. Session XIII., Chap. I.) The 
lilxli-church view Is thus stated: "That the Body and 
i:iid of Christ exist In those element* ls a much the 
l>< Iht of ili,> Knulijth Church as of the Latin and (Ireek 
Churches." (lUunl, Diet. Tlieul., p. 701.) 
4702 
A sacramental or a hyperphyslcal change no English 
churchman who believes the Heal Pretence as his Church 
teaches could hesitate to accept. Piuey, Eirenicon, p. 83. 
Doctrine of the virtual presence, the doctrine that 
Christ Is present In the cucharlst In such a manner that 
communicants receive the virtue or power and benefits of 
his body and blood, but not his real body and blood them- 
selves. Hearing In presence. Sec hearing. In pres- 
ence of, in Ian , being bodily so near another, who is con- 
scious of the fact, as to be within the means of observation. 
If a person is sleeping, an act done in the same place Is not 
considered as done in his presence. Presence of mind, 
a calm, collected state of the mind, with it* faculties 
ready at command, enabling a person to speak or act with- 
out disorder or embarrassment when taken by surprise ; 
quickness In meeting the exigencies of sudden and trying 
occasions. 
The the tremor of my passion entirely takes away 
my pretence of mind. Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 2. 
As a soldier he [Charles I.) was feeble, dilatory, and mis- 
erably wanting, not In personal courage, but in the pret- 
ence of mind which his station required. 
Macaulay, llullam's Const. Hist. 
At the twelfth round the Utter champion was all abroad, 
as the saying is, and had lost all pretence of mind and 
power of attack or defence. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, v. 
To be in presence, to be present 
If thou be fair, ther folk fen t'n presence, 
Shew thou thy visage and tin n apparallle. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, L 1161. 
presence-chamber (prez'ens-charn'ber),i. The 
room in which a great personage receives his 
guests, or those eutitled to come before him ; a 
hall of state. 
The heaven of heavens, the pretence chamber of God 
himself, expects the presence of our bodies. 
Donne, Sermons, xii. 
By the hands of these [silversmiths] ... he finished 
his pretence-chamber in a manner truly admirable. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 633. 
presence-room (prez'eus-rom), . Same as 
prestmee-ekamber, 
That morning in the pretence room I stood 
With Cyril and with Florian, my two friends. 
Tennyton, Princess, i. 
presentation (pre-sen-sa'shon), H. [< jtre- + 
sensation.'] A sensation anticipatory of a fu- 
ture sensation; a sensation due to imagining 
an object which is expected to produce a simi- 
lar sensation through the channels of external 
sense. [Rare.] 
That plenitude of happiness that has been reserved for 
future times, the presage and presentation of it, has in all 
ages been a very great joy and triumph to all holy men 
and prophets. Dr. U. More, Def. of Moral Cabbala, ii. 
presension (pre-sen'shou), . [Also, erroneous- 
ly, prewntton; < li.praxrnio(n-), a foreboding, 
( preesennu, pp. of j>rxen tire, feel or perceive 
beforehand: see prcsentieiit,] 1. A direct per- 
ception of the future; a presentiment. 
Natural [divination | is, when the mind hath a pretention 
by an internal power, without the Inducement of a sign. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 203. 
The hedgehog, whose pretentinn of winds is so exact that 
it stoppeth the north or southern hole of Its nest 
Sir T. Browne,, Vulg. Err., ilL 10. 
There is, salth Cicero, an ancient opinion . . . that 
there Is among men a certain divination, which the Greeks 
call prophecy (or inspiration) that Is, a pretention and 
knowledge of future things. Barrow, Works, II. ix. 
2. An anticipation ; a presensation. 
We shall nnd ourselves in a heaven upon earth, and 
each act of virtue will be a pretention and foretaste of the 
joys of a celestial life. Scott, Christian Life, I. 4. 
I have a pretcention of a grand royal meaning which 
some day will be revealed to me. 
E. //. Sean, Fourth Gospel. 
present 1 (prez'ent), a. and . J< ME. present, 
< OF. present, i v . present = Sp. Pg. It. presente, 
< \j. prsesen( <-)., ppr. of prxesse, DO before, in 
view, or at hand, be present, < prte, before, + 
esse, be: see essence, oc 1 , and cf. absent.] I. a. 
1 . Being or abiding, as a person, in this or any 
specified place ; being in view or immediately 
at hand: opposed to absent. 
These things have I spoken unto you, being \<it pretriit 
with you. John xlv. 2S. 
.So, either by thy picture or my love, 
Thyself away art pretent still with me. 
Shalt., Sonnets, xlvll 
I will send word wlthynne a moneth day 
Vnto your prince, where euer he be pretent, 
All vtterly the fyne of myn entente. 
Uenerydet (E. E. T. S.\ \. 1757. 
What could he advantage 
Your fortune, were he pretent f 
Shirley, Grateful Servant, I. 2. 
The temple of the Greeks was the house of a pretent 
deity, it cell his chamber, Its statue his reality. 
J. A. Symondt, Italy and Greece, p. 217. 
Pretent In this sense Is often used In addressing a letter 
which Is to be delivered to some one cither actually pres- 
ent, or near at hand, as In the same nelghliorhood or town. 
2. Now existing; being lit this time; not past 
or future: as, the /m *i ,,i session of Congress. 
present 
We apprehend them by memory, whereas the pretent 
time and things so swiftly passe away. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesle, p. SI. 
Well teach thee to forget, with pretent pleasures, 
Thy late captivity. 
Fletcher (and another '<), Prophetess, Iv. S. 
The description also of Hermon, as a mountain of snow, 
agrees with its pretent appearance, being always covered 
with it. Pococte, Description of the East, II. I. 74. 
If we compare the pretent state of France with the state 
In which she was forty years ago, how vast a change for 
the better has taken place ! Macmdaij. Mirabeau. 
3. Being now in mind, (a) Vnder consideration. 
I will not be negligent to put you always in remem- 
brance of these things, though ye know them, and be es- 
tablished In the pretent truth. 2 Pet. L 12. 
The much greater part of them are not brought up so 
well, or accustomed to so much religion, as in the pretent 
instance. Law. 
(b) Actually in consciousness. 
They are never pretent in mind at what passes In dis- 
course. Swift, On Conversation. 
I call that clear which Is pretent and manifest to the 
mind giving attention to It, just as we are said clearly to 
see objects when, being pretent to the eye looking on, they 
stimulate It with sufficient force, and It is disposed to re- 
gard them. 
Quoted in Veitch't Int to Descartea's Methods, p. Iv. 
4. Prompt or ready at need. 
He oft finds pretent helpe who does his griefe impart 
Spenter, F. Q., II. I. 46. 
Vouchsafe t ' afford . . . 
Some pretent speed to come and visit me. 
Shall., Lucrece, 1. 1307. 
God is our refuge and strength, a very JMW/I/ help In 
trouble. Ps. xlvi. 1. 
Nor could I hope, In any place but there, 
To find a god so pretent to my prayer. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Eclogues, 1. 59. 
Present money. See money. Present tense, in yram. , 
the tense of a verb which expresses action or being In the 
present time, as Latin tcribo. English I write, or do write, 
or am writing. Abbreviated pro. 
II. . 1. Present time; time now passing. 
And madness, thou hast forged at last 
A night-long Pretent of the Past 
In which we went thro' summer France. 
Tennyton, In Memoriam, Ixxl. 
2. Present business; an affair in hand. 
Shall I be charged no further than this pretent f 
Must all determine here? Shale.. Cor., 111. 3. 4?. 
3f. The money or other property a person has 
on hand. 
Ill make division of my pretent with yon ; 
Hold, there 's half my coffer. Shak., T. N., ill. 4. 380. 
4. lit. In lair, a term used in a deed of convey- 
ance, a lease, letter of attorney, or other docu- 
ment, to express the document itself; this 
present writing: as in the phrase "Know all 
men by these presents" (that is. by this very 
document, by the words here set down) ; hence, 
any writ or writing. [In this sense it is rarely 
used in the singular.] 
Be it open and knowen apertfliche vn to jow, be theis 
pretentet, that we fulllche vndirstondend the lettres sent 
fro jour C'hauncrye vn-to vs. 
Englith Oildi (E. E. T. 8.), p. 48. 
King. What pretent hast thou there 1 . . . 
Jag. I beseech your grace, let this letter be read. 
Shale., L. I.. I... iv. 3. 189. 
Romulus, after his death (as they report, or feignX sent 
a pretent to the Romans, that above all they should Intend 
arms, and then they should prove the greatest empire of 
the world. 
Bacon, True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates(ed. 1887). 
6. In gram., the present tense At present, at 
this time ; now. 
Which not ni pretent having time to do. 
Pope, Epll. to Satires, II. If*. 
He is at pretent with his regiment 
Sheridan, The Rivals, 1. 2. 
These figures are of course between ourselves ut pretent. 
Fortter, Dickens, Ix. 
Historical present (tense). See hittorieal, 4. 
On otherpolnU Hug disagrees with Hoffmann, especially 
with the latter's statement that the hittorieal pretent was 
to the Romans simply a preterit. 
Amer. Jour. Philol.. X. 111. 
That present, elllptlcally for that pretent time ; the time 
being ; then. 
The wounds that this frost gave the commonwealth 
were for that pretent scarce felt. 
The (jrcat Frost (Arber's Eng. earner, I. 91). 
The present, an elliptical expression lor the pretent time. 
Men that set their hearts only upon the present. 
Sir K. l.r>i,.,,,, r 
This present, elllptlcally for this present time ; now. 
We know your feare, and are In an agonic at this pretent 
lest you should lose that superfluity of riches and hom >m 
which your party uanrii 
Milton, On Def. of Dumb. Remonst 
present 1 ! (prex'ent), n<ir. [ME., < present^, a.] 
At once; immediately; presently. 
Let me dye promt In this place. 
OMsMsr, Parliament of Kowls, I. 423. 
