Rĕp/re-sĕnt', v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. REPRESENTED; p. pr. & vb. n. REPRESENTING.] [Fr. représenter, Pr., Sp., & Pg. representar, It. rappresentare, rap-presentare, Lat. repræsentare, from re, again, and præsentare, to place before, to present. See PRESENT, v. t.]
Sense 1. To present again or in place of something else; to exhibit the counterpart or image of.
Before him burn Seven lamps, as in a zodiac, representing The heavenly fires. Milton.
Sense 2. To portray by pictorial or plastic art; to delineate; to reproduce; as, to represent a landscape in a picture, a horse in bronze, and the like.
Sense 3. To portray by mimicry or action of any kind; to act the part or character of; to personate; as, to represent Hamlet.
Sense 4. To supply the place or perform the duties of; to speak and act with authority in behalf of; as, to represent the interests of a person; to represent a State in the Senate.
Sense 5. To stand in the place of, in the right of inheritance.
All the branches inherit the same share that their root, whom they represent, would have done. Blackstone.
Sense 6. To exhibit to another mind in language; to show; to give one's own impressions and judgment of; to bring before the mind; to represent the state of; sometimes, to give an account of; to describe.
This bank is thought the greatest load on the Genesee, and the managers of it have been represented as a second kind of senate. Addison.
Sense 7. To serve as a sign or symbol of,—as mathematical symbols represent quantities or relations, and words, ideas or things.
Sense 8. To image or picture in sensation.
Among these, Fancy next Her office holds; of all exterior things Which the five watchful senses represent, She forms imaginations, airy shapes. Milton.
Sense 9. To present a second time by a transcript of what was originally presented to the mind.
There is required . . . a faculty of representing in consciousness . . . the knowledge presented, retained, and represented. Sir W. Hamilton.