PARAGRAPH, a term for a section or division of written or printed matter, which, as beginning a new subject, marking a break in the subject, &c., is signified by beginning the section on a new line set back or indented; also by the symbol, now ¶, a reversed P, formerly (I or I), to mark such a division. The Gr. παραγραφός (παρὰ and γράφειν, to write alongside or beside) was used of the short horizontal line or stroke which marked a line in a MS. where such a division occurs; and παραγραφή of a marginal note, also the division so marked. The word " paragraph," besides these technical typographical meanings, is also applied to the separate numbered sections in an affidavit or other legal document, or in a statute, &c., and in journalism to a short item of news or brief notice of events.