pard

plural pards

1. archaicliteraryA leopard; a panther.

   In a mistake of the gall-bladder for some part of South America it is mostly found in the pard […]

   1813, John Mason Good, Pantologia. A new (cabinet) cyclopædia, by J.M. Good, O. Gregory, and N. Bosworth assisted by other gentlemen of eminence, page 41

   4 more examples

   Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel …

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], lines 1047-49

   Ten Brace, and more, of Greyhounds, snowy fair, And tall as Stags, ran loose, and cours'd around his Chair, A Match for Pards in flight, in grappling, for the Bear

   1700, John Dryden, Palamon and Arcite, Book III

   St. Jerome takes the pard of Jeremiah to mean the onslaught of Alexander upon India. His contemporary, St. Ambrose, avers that the pard’s variety of hue signifies the various impulses of the soul.

   1902, Richard Thayer Holbrook, Dante and the Animal Kingdom

   Centuries ago it was believed that the leopard was a cross between a lion and a pard, hence its title of leo-pard. Some authorities said that a pard was another name for a panther and others stated that a panther was a female leopard. The relationship between the pard, the panther and the leopard kept changing until, at last, the great Dr Johnson in his 1760 dictionary declared bluntly that a panther was a pard and that a pard was a leopard. In other words, the three animals were one and the same. After Johnson's time the pard faded into history, but the panther managed to survive […].

   2014 June 15, Desmond Morris, Leopard, Reaktion Books, →ISBN

plural pards

1. colloquialPartner; fellow; Used as a friendly appellation

   'He's my pard, and you shall not bully him,' he cried.

   1898, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Man with the Watches

   2 more examples

   He had long believed, in secret, that his old pard, Tom Terror, was the leader of the Thugs that infested the famous pass; he was confident of it now, and it would be safe to say that, as he rode along, his neck did not itch as formerly.

   1882, James Jackson, Tom Terror, the Outlaw

   The American thrust a gold piece into his hand, saying: 'Take it, pard! it's your pot; and don't be skeer'd. This ain't no necktie party that you're asked to assist in!'

   1914, Bram Stoker, The Squaw

1. abbreviationacronymuncountablebusinessAcronym of periodic and random deviations, a form of electrical noise.

   This article describes a power supply conditioning circuit that can reduce Periodic And Random Deviations (PARD) on the output voltages of DC power supplies...

   1987, “Power supply conditioning circuit”, in JPL DSN Progress Report 42-90, page 1