Definition of "pard"
pard1
noun
plural pards
(archaic, literary) A leopard; a panther.
Quotations
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, [Act II, scene vii], lines 1047-49
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