presence
    n 1: the state of being present; current existence; "he tested
         for the presence of radon" [ant: absence]
    2: the immediate proximity of someone or something; "she blushed
       in his presence"; "he sensed the presence of danger"; "he was
       well behaved in front of company" [syn: presence, front]
    3: an invisible spiritual being felt to be nearby
    4: the impression that something is present; "he felt the
       presence of an evil force"
    5: dignified manner or conduct [syn: bearing, comportment,
       presence, mien]
    6: the act of being present [ant: absence]

Presence \Pres"ence\, n. [F. pr['e]sence, L. praesentia. See
   Present.]
   1. The state of being present, or of being within sight or
      call, or at hand; -- opposed to absence.
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   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.
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            Wrath shell be no more
            Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.
                                                  --Milton.
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   3. Specifically, neighborhood to the person of one of
      superior of exalted rank; also, presence chamber.
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            In such a presence here to plead my thoughts.
                                                  --Shak.
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            An't please your grace, the two great cardinals.
            Wait in the presence.                 --Shak.
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   4. The whole of the personal qualities of an individual;
      person; personality; especially, the person of a superior,
      as a sovereign.
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            The Sovran Presence thus replied.     --Milton.
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   5. An assembly, especially of person of rank or nobility;
      noble company.
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            Odmar, of all this presence does contain,
            Give her your wreath whom you esteem most fair.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   6. Port, mien; air; personal appearence. "Rather dignity of
      presence than beauty of aspect." --Bacon.
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            A graceful presence bespeaks acceptance. -- Collier.
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   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.
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PRESENCE. The existence of a person in a particular place. 
     2. In many contracts and judicial proceedings it is necessary that the 
parties should be present in order to reader them valid; for example, a 
party to a deed when it is executed by himself, must personally acknowledge 
it, when such acknowledgment is required by law, to give it its full force 
and effect, and his presence is indispensable, unless, indeed, another 
person represent him as his attorney, having authority from him for that 
purpose. 
     3. In the criminal law, presence is actual or constructive. When a 
larceny is committed in a house by two men, united in the same design, and 
one of them goes into the house, arid commits the crime, while the other is 
on the outside watching to prevent a surprise, the former is actually, an 
the latter constructively, present. 
     4. It is a rule in the civil law, that he who is incapable of giving 
his consent to an act, is not to be considered present, although he be 
actually in the place; a lunatic, or a man sleeping, would not therefore be 
considered present. Dig. 41, 2, 1, 3. And so, if insensible; 1 Dougl. 241; 4 
Bro. P. R. 71; 3 Russ. 441; or if the act were done secretly so that he knew 
nothing of it. 1 P. Wms. 740. 
     5. The English statute of fraud, Sec. 5, directs that all devises and 
bequests of any lands or tenements shall be attested or subscribed in the 
presence of said devisor. Under this statute it has been decided that an 
actual presence is not indispensable, but that where there was a 
constructive presence it was sufficient; as, where the testatrix executed 
the will in her carriage standing in the street before the office of her 
solicitor, the witness retired into the office to attest it, and it being 
proved that the carriage was accidentally put back, so that she was in a 
situation to see the witness sign the will through the window of the office. 
Bro. Ch. C. 98; see 2 Curt. R. 320; 2 Salk. 688; 3 Russ. R. 441; 1 Maule & 
Selw. 294; 2 Car.& P. 491 2 Curt. R. 331. Vide Constructive.