par

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An amount or level considered to be average; a standard: performing up to par; did not yet feel up to par.
2. n. An equality of status, level, or value; equal footing: a local product on a par with the best foreign makes.
3. n. The established value of a monetary unit expressed in terms of a monetary unit of another country using the same metal standard.
4. n. The face value of a stock, bond, or other negotiable instrument: sold the bond at par.
5. n. Sports The number of golf strokes considered necessary to complete a hole or course in expert play.
6. v. Sports To score par on (a hole or course) in golf.
7. adj. Equal to the standard; normal: a solid, par performance.
8. adj. Of or relating to monetary face value.
9. idiom. par for the course Usual; typical: Unfortunately, such short-sightedness is par for the course these days.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To inclose.
2. n. An inclosed place for domestic animals.
3. n. Equality in value or in circumstances.
4. n. The norm; a standard, fixed either by natural conditions or by consent and agreement.
5. n. Specifically In banking and com., the state of the shares of any business, undertaking, loan, etc., when they are neither at a discount nor at a premium—that is, when they may be purchased at the original price (called issue par), or at their face-value (called nominal par). Such shares or bonds are said to be at par. When they may be purchased for less than the issue or nominal par, they are said to be below par, or at a discount; when the price is greater than the issue or nominal par, they are said to be above par, or at a premium.
6. n. Same as arbitrated par. See the quotation.
7. Normal; standard.
8. Strictly equivalent value, as pound for pound or dollar for dollar.
9. To fix an equality between; arrive at or establish an equivalence in the values of; agree upon the commercial or financial par of: said of the agreement between two or more countries as to the value of the coins of one in those of the other, or of the others, etc.
10. n. A pair; in anatomy, a pair (of nerves): now only in one phrase.
11. n. See parr.
12. n. A young leveret.
13. n. A French preposition, meaning ‘by,’ ‘through,’ etc., occurring in some phrases occasionally used in English, as par excellence. See per and per-.
14. n. A form of per- in some words from Old French, as parboil, pardon etc. See per-.
15. n. A form of para- before a vowel or h.
16. n. An abbreviation for paragraph and parenthesis.
17. n. In golf: Perfect play.
18. n. At each hole, the number of perfectly played strokes from tee to green (two putts being added). The par of a 320-yard hole, for instance, is usually fixed at 4 strokes.
19. n. An abbreviation of parallel
20. n. of parish.

Wiktionary

1. abbr. paragraph
2. abbr. parallel
3. abbr. parenthesis
4. abbr. parish
5. prep. By; with.
6. n. Equal value; equality of nominal and actual value; the value expressed on the face or in the words of a certificate of value, as a bond or other commercial paper.
7. n. Equality of condition or circumstances.
8. n. golf, mostly uncountable The allotted number of strokes to reach the hole.
9. n. golf, countable A hole in which a player achieves par
10. n. Young salmon (also spelled parr)
11. v. transitive, golf To reach the hole in the allotted number of strokes.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) See parr.
2. prep. By; with; -- used frequently in Early English in phrases taken from the French, being sometimes written as a part of the word which it governs
3. n. Equal value; equality of nominal and actual value; the value expressed on the face or in the words of a certificate of value, as a bond or other commercial paper.
4. n. Equality of condition or circumstances.
5. n. engraving An amount which is taken as an average or mean.
6. n. (Golf) The number of strokes required for a hole or a round played without mistake, two strokes being allowed on each hole for putting. Par represents perfect play, whereas bogey makes allowance on some holes for human frailty. Thus if par for a course is 75, bogey is usually put down, arbitrarily, as 81 or 82. If par for one hole is 5, a bogey is 6, and a score of 7 strokes would be a double bogey.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a state of being essentially equal or equivalent; equally balanced
2. v. make a score (on a hole) equal to par
3. n. (golf) the standard number of strokes set for each hole on a golf course, or for the entire course