Pre·sent v. t. [imp. & p. p. Presented; p. pr. & vb. n. Presenting.]
 1. 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.
    Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the lord.   --Job i. 6
 2. To exhibit or offer to view or notice; to lay before one's perception or cognizance; to set forth; to present a fine appearance.
    Lectorides's memory is ever . . . presenting him with the thoughts of other persons.   --I. Watts.
 3. To pass over, esp. in a ceremonious manner; to give in charge or possession; to deliver; to make over.
 So ladies in romance assist their knight,
 Present the spear, and arm him for the fight.   --Pope.
 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.]
 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.