Adverb

(en adverb)

In a direct manner; in a straight line or course.

In a straightforward way; without anything intervening; not by secondary, but by direct means.

Plainly, without circumlocution or ambiguity; absolutely; in express terms.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 19, author=Josh Halliday, work=the Guardian

, title= Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised? , passage="Mujtahidd" has attracted almost 300,000 followers since the end of last year, when he began posting scandalous claims about the Saudi elite. In one tweet, Mujtahidd directly challenged Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd about his political history: "Did you resign or were you forced to resign from your post as head of the diwan [office] of the council of ministers?"}}

Exactly; just.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)

, magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,

Straightforwardly; honestly.

(label) Immediately.

(label) Soon; next; when it becomes convenient.

Adverb

(en adverb)

*~1600 , (William Shakespeare), (Hamlet) , Act 3,

*:Polonius : My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently .

*(The Bible) : (w) xxi. 19:

*:And presently the fig tree withered away.

*, Folio Society, 2006, Vol.1, p.219:

*:the butler supposing the Wine had beene so carefully commended unto him for the goodnesse of it, imediately presented some unto the Pope, who whilest he was drinking, his sonne came in and never imagining his bottles had beene toucht, tooke the cup and pledged his father, so that the Pope died presently ; and the sonne, after he had long time beene tormented with sicknesse, recovered to another worse fortune.

Before long; soon.

*1646 , (Thomas Browne), (Pseudodoxia Epidemica) , I.3:

*:Itis the greatest example of lenity in our Saviour, when he desired of God forgiveness unto those, who having one day brought him into the City in triumph, did presently after, act all dishonour upon him, and nothing could be heard but, Crucifige , in their Courts.

*

*:But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.

*1940 , (Raymond Chandler), , Penguin 2010, p.55:

*:‘I shall presently be getting a call to tell me of that.’

At the present time; now; currently.

*Sir (Philip Sidney) (1554-1586)

*:The towns and forts you presently have.

*1891 , The Welsh Review, No.1 (November 1891). "A Word to the Welsh People." p.1:

*:To all of you, therefore, who call Wales your motherland, whether you presently inhabit some other portion of the globe or breathe the air of your cloud-kissed country.

*Bishop (Stephen Gardiner) (1483-1555)

*:His precious body and blood presently three.