1. (a.) Being at hand, within reach or call, within certain contemplated limits; -- opposed to absent.

2. (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.

3. (a.) Not delayed; immediate; instant; coincident.

4. (a.) Ready; quick in emergency; as a present wit.

5. (a.) Favorably attentive; propitious.

6. (a.) Present time; the time being; time in progress now, or at the moment contemplated; as, at this present.

7. (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.

8. (n.) A present tense, or the form of the verb denoting the present tense.

9. (v.) 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.

10. (v.) To exhibit or offer to view or notice; to lay before one's perception or cognizance; to set forth; to present a fine appearance.

11. (v.) To pass over, esp. in a ceremonious manner; to give in charge or possession; to deliver; to make over.

12. (v.) To make a gift of; to bestow; to give, generally in a formal or ceremonious manner; to grant; to confer.

13. (a.) Hence: To endow; to bestow a gift upon; to favor, as with a donation; also, to court by gifts.

14. (v.) To present; to personate.

15. (v.) To nominate to an ecclesiastical benefice; to offer to the bishop or ordinary as a candidate for institution.

16. (v.) To nominate for support at a public school or other institution .

17. (v.) 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.

18. (v.) 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.

19. (v.) To bring an indictment against .

20. (v.) To aim, point, or direct, as a weapon; as, to present a pistol or the point of a sword to the breast of another.

21. (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.

22. (n.) Anything presented or given; a gift; a donative; as, a Christmas present.

23. (n.) The position of a soldier in presenting arms; as, to stand at present.