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Webster 1913 Edition


Presence

Pres′ence

,
Noun.
[F.
présence
, L.
praesentia
. See
Present
.]
1.
The state of being present, or of being within sight or call, or at hand; – opposed to absence.
2.
The place in which one is present; the part of space within one’s ken, call, influence, etc.; neighborhood without the intervention of anything that forbids intercourse.
Wrath shell be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy
presence
joy entire.
Milton.
3.
Specifically, neighborhood to the person of one of superior of exalted rank; also, presence chamber.
In such a
presence
here to plead my thoughts.
Shakespeare
An't please your grace, the two great cardinals.
Wait in the
presence
.
Shakespeare
4.
The whole of the personal qualities of an individual; person; personality; especially, the person of a superior, as a sovereign.
The Sovran
Presence
thus replied.
Milton.
5.
An assembly, especially of person of rank or nobility; noble company.
Odmar, of all this
presence
does contain,
Give her your wreath whom you esteem most fair.
Dryden.
6.
Port, mien; air; personal appearence.
“Rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect.”
Bacon.
A graceful
presence
bespeaks acceptance.
Collier.
Presence chamber
, or
Presence room
,
the room in which a great personage receives company.
Addison.
Chambers of presence.”
Bacon.
Presence of mind
,
that state of the mind in which all its faculties are alert, prompt, and acting harmoniously in obedience to the will, enabling one to reach, as it were spontaneously or by intuition, just conclusions in sudden emergencies.

Webster 1828 Edition


Presence

PRES'ENCE

,
Noun.
s as z. [L. proesentia; proe, before, and esse, to be.] The existence of a person or thing in a certain place; opposed to absence. This event happened during the king's presence at the theater. In examining the patient, the presence of fever was not observed. The presence of God is not limited to any place.
1.
A being in company near or before the face of another. We were gratified with the presence of a person so much respected.
2.
Approach face to face or nearness of a great personage.
Men that very presence fear,
Which once they knew authority did bear.
3.
State of being in view; sight. An accident happened in the presence of the court.
4.
By way of distinction, state of being in view of a superior.
I know not by what pow'r I am made bold,
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts.
5.
A number assembled before a great person.
Odmar, of all this presence does contain,
Give her your wreath whom you esteem most fair.
6.
Port; mien; air; personal appearance; demeanor.
Virtue is best in a body that is comely, and that has rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect.
A graceful presence bespeaks acceptance.
7.
The apartment in which a prince shows himself to his court.
An't please your grace, the two great cardinals.
Wait in the presence.
8.
The person of a superior.
Presence of mind, a calm, collected state of the mind with its faculties at command; undisturbed state of the thoughts, which enables a person to speak or act without disorder or embarrassment in unexpected difficulties.
Errors, not to be recalled, do find
Their best redress from presence of the mind.

Definition 2024


presence

presence

See also: présence

English

Alternative forms

Noun

presence (plural presences)

  1. The fact or condition of being present, or of being within sight or call, or at hand.
    Any painter can benefit from the presence of a live model from which to draw.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterII:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
  2. The part of space within one's immediate vicinity.
    Bob never said anything about it in my presence.
  3. A quality of poise and effectiveness that enables a performer to achieve a close relationship with his audience.
    Despite being less than five foot, she filled up the theatre with her stage presence.
  4. Something (as a spirit) felt or believed to be present.
    I'm convinced that there was a presence in that building that I can't explain, which led to my heroic actions.
  5. A company's business activity in a particular market.
  6. The state of being closely focused on the here and now, not distracted by irrelevant thoughts

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Antonyms

Translations

Derived terms

Verb

presence (third-person singular simple present presences, present participle presencing, simple past and past participle presenced)

  1. (philosophy) To make or become present.
    • 1972, Joan Stambaugh, Time and being (lecture), translation of original by Martin Heidegger, page 13:
      Presence means: the constant abiding that approaches man, reaches him, is extended to him. But what is this source of this extending reach to which the present belongs as presencing, insofar as there is presence? True, man always remains approached by the presencing of something actually present without explicitly heeding presencing itself.
    • 1985, David Edward Shaner, The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism: A Phenomenological Study of Kūkai and Dōgen, page 59,
      Within a completely neutral horizon, the primordial continuous stream of experience is presenced without interruption. As this time, the past and future have no meaning apart from the now in which they are presenced.
    • 1998, H. Peter Steeves, Founding Community: A Phenomenological-Ethical Inquiry, page 59,
      Just as the bread and butter can be presenced as more than just the bread and the butter, so baking a loaf of bread can be more than just the baking, the baker, and the bread.
    • 2005, James Phillips, Heidegger's Volk: Between National Socialism and Poetry, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0804750718 (paperback), page 118,
      From the overtaxing of the regime's paranoiac classifications and monitoring of the social field, Heidegger was to await in vain the presencing of that which is present, the revelation of the Being of beings in its precedence to governmental control.
    • 2011, Brendan McCormack, Tanya McCance, Person-centred Nursing: Theory and Practice:
      Benner (1984) captures the essence of this when she describes presencing as the art of 'being with' a person without the need to be 'doing to' the person.

Related terms

External links

  • presence in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • presence” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
  • presence in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: window · instead · giving · #656: presence · learned · minutes · appear