Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-SENT', v.t. [Low L. præsento; Fr. presenter; It. presentare; Sp. presentar; L. præsens; præ, before, and sum, esse, to be.]

1. To set, place or introduce into the presence or before the face of a superior, as to present an envoy to the king; and with the reciprocal pronoun, to come into the presence of a superior. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Job i.
2. To exhibit to view or notice. The top of Mount Holyoke, in Hampshire county, in Massachusetts, presents one of the finest prospects in America.
3. To offer to exhibit. O hear what to my mind first thoughts present. – Milton. He is ever ready to present to us the thoughts or observations of others. – Watts.
4. To give; to offer gratuitously for reception. The first president of the American Bible Society, presented to that institution ten thousand dollars.
5. To put into the hands of another in ceremony. So ladies in romance assist their knight, / Present the spear, and arm him for the fight. – Pope.
6. To favor with a gift; as, we present a man with a suit of clothes. Formerly, the phrase was, to present a person. Octavia presented the poet, for his admirable elegy on her son Marcellus. – Dryden. [This use is obsolete.]
7. 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 directives to be instituted. – Blackstone.
8. To offer. He presented battle to the French navy, which was refused. – Hayward.
9. To lay before a public body for consideration, as before a legislature, a court of judicature, a corporation, &c.; as, to present a memorial, petition, remonstrance or indictment.
10. To lay before a court of judicature as an object of inquiry; to give notice officially of a crime or offense. It is the duty of grand juries to present all breaches of law within their knowledge. In America, grand juries present whatever they think to be public injuries, by notifying them to the public with their censure.
11. To point a weapon, particularly some species of firearms; as, to present a musket to the breast of another; manual exercise, to present arms.
12. To indict; a customary use of the word in the United States.