subs. (old colloquial: now recognised).—1. See quot.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. PAR, gold and silver at a like Proportion.
2. (colloquial).—An abbreviation of ‘paragraph.’
1885. The Saturday Review, 7 Feb., 163. It is natural that the reporter should want news. PARS are as much his quarry as dynamiters are that of the police.
1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 March. I cannot give the wording of the PAR, but here is a faithful digest of it.
