Definition of "presentment"

presentment

/pɹɪˈzɛntmənt/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural presentments
1. (law) A statement made on oath by a jury.
  Quotations
  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. (law) The notice taken by a grand jury of any offence from their own knowledge or observation, without any bill of indictment laid before them.
3. (ecclesiastical law) A formal complaint submitted to a bishop or archdeacon.
  Quotations
  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. The act of presenting something for acceptance; now specifically, presenting something (e.g. a bill or cheque) for payment.
  Quotations
  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. (now rare) An artistic representation; a picture.
  Quotations
  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. Presentation of a performance, as of a play or work of music.
7. (now rare) The aspect or form in which something presents itself; appearance.
  Quotations
  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
8. The official notice (formerly required to be given in court) of the surrender of a copyhold estate.
  Quotations
  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