Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Present \Pres"ent\, n. [Cf. F. pr['e]sent. See {Present}, a.]
   1. Present time; the time being; time in progress now, or at
      the moment contemplated; as, at this present.

            Past and present, wound in one.       --Tennyson.

   2. pl. (Law) 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.

   3. (Gram.) A present tense, or the form of the verb denoting
      the present tense.

   {At present}, at the present time; now.

   {For the present}, for the tine being; temporarily.

   {In present}, at once, without delay. [Obs.] ``With them, in
      present, half his kingdom; the rest to follow at his
      death.'' --Milton.