presentment

plural presentments

1. countableuncountablelawA statement made on oath by a jury.First known use 15th c.

   In 1771, a grand jury presentment in Georgia revealed that "Slaves are permitted to rent houses …."

   1993, Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, Penguin History, paperback edition, page 62

2. countableuncountablelawThe notice taken by a grand jury of any offence from their own knowledge or observation, without any bill of indictment laid before them.

   the presentment of a nuisance, a libel, etc.

3. countableuncountableecclesiasticalA formal complaint submitted to a bishop or archdeacon.First known use 16th c.

   He recognised that there was general resentment of the oppressive conduct of the Forest officers, and made provision for regular inquiries into it, and for presentment of Forest offences to be made at the attachment courts, as a procedure preliminary to the Forest Eyre.

   1991, Raymond Grant, The Royal Forests of England, Alan Sutton

4. countableuncountableThe act of presenting something for acceptance; now specifically, presenting something (e.g. a bill or cheque) for payment.First known use 16th c.

   When online bill presentment, which removes all the paperwork, becomes widespread, says McKinsey's Stephenson, online banking will be far more compelling.

   2000, Sarah Rose, “The Truth about Online Banking”, in Money, vol. 29.4

5. archaiccountableuncountableAn artistic representation; a picture.First known use 16th c.

   1 more example

   Noted among the who's-who in portraiture: Hopkinson's Secretary Hughes, Childe Hassam's Governor Alfred E. Smith, of New York, Edmund C. Tarbell's Mary at the Harpsichord, Lillian Westcott Hale's child portrait study of Brothers, Frank Benson's Girl in Blue Jacket, and Marion Boyd Allen's presentment of Anna Vaughn Hyatt.

   1923 December 21, “Arts: In Washington”, in Time

6. countableuncountablePresentation of a performance, as of a play or work of music.First known use 17th c.
7. archaiccountableuncountableThe aspect or form in which something presents itself; appearance.First known use 17th c.

   But it was especially the aspect of the three chief officers of the ship, the mates, which was most forcibly calculated to allay these colourless misgivings, and induce confidence and cheerfulness in every presentment of the voyage.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

8. countableuncountableThe official notice (formerly required to be given in court) of the surrender of a copyhold estate.

   As to the presentment: that, by the general custom of manors, is to be made at the next court baron immediately after the surrender

   1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC