Definition of "presence of mind" []

• The ability to think and act calmly and efficiently, especially in an emergency. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Even at this early age he had the presence of mind to call upstairs to his mother, Something wrong with Gammie."
• "“I well remember the cry of treason,” Jefferson wrote afterward, “the pause of Mr. Henry at the name of George III., and the presence of mind with which he closed his sentence, and baffled the charge vociferated.”"
• "They had had the presence of mind to bring their wooden bowls, dippers and spoons, also their blankets, mats and buckets; Richard found the stream and put Bill Whiting to setting up the dripstones, then fetching water."