pecul

See picul. peculate (pek'ū-lāt), v. i.; pret. and pp. pecu lated, ppr. peculating. [L. peculatus, pp. of peculari, defraud the public, embezzle public which the nation had been so much po e ed, were in a The popular clamours of corruption and peculate , with great measure di ipated. Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times. peculation (pek-u-lā'shon), n. [ latio (n-), peculari , peculate: see peculate .] The act of peculating; the crime of ing to one's own use money or goods intrusted to one's care; embezzlement; defalcation. One of these gentlemen was accused of the gro est peculations . Burke , On Fox's East India Bill. IMG:content-2534.png:[blocks in formation] peculiar (pē-kūʻlyär), a. and n. [OF. peculier Sp . Pg . peculiar = It. peculiare , peculiar is , pertaining to pri private property, one's own, prop- er, special, peculiar, pe peculium , property in cattle, hence property operty in general: see peculi- um.] I. a. 1. One's own; pertaining to one, not to many; of private, personal, or charac- teristic po e ion and use; with to , belonging specially or particularly. Adam a igned to every creature a name peculiar to its nature. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, ii. 2. Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, But seeming so, for my peculiar end. IMG:content-2535.png:[blocks in formation] J. H. Newman , Parochial Sermons, i. 191. Particular; distinct; individual. One peculiar nation to select From all the rest, of whom to be invoked. Milton , P. L., xii. 111. Multitudes formed peculiar trains of their own, and fol New Princeton Rev., II. 243. lowed in the wake of the columns. 3. Special; particular; select. We cannot have a new peculiar court-tire but these retainers will have it. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1. for he hath kept it ever since for his own peculiar. N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 78. 2. A person or thing that is peculiar: as, the Plumstead Peculiars.-3. In canon law, a particular parish or church which is exempted from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop liar (a sovereign's free chapel, exempt from in whose diocese it lies, such as a royal pecu parish or church pertaining to an archbishop, any jurisdiction but that of the sovereign); a bishop, dean, chapter, or prebendary, etc., which is not under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese in which it is situated, but under that of some other archbishop, bishop, dean, etc.-4. In colonial and provincial Ma achusetts, a parish, precinct, or district not yet erected into a town; a portion set off from a town and made independent of it in respect to all or most matters of local administration, but not in respect to choosing a representative to the General Court.-5t. A mistre . Grose. Court of Peculiars, in Eng. eccles. law, a branch of the Court of Arches having jurisdiction over the peculiars of the archbishop of Canterbury. peculiarise, v. t. See peculiarize. peculiarity (pe-ku-li-ar'i-ti), n.; pl. peculiarities (-tiz). [ML. peculiar it a (t-) s, peculiarity, IMG:content-2536.jpg:[blocks in formation] 2. That which is peculiar to or characteristic of a person or thing; a special character is tie or belonging. There are persons whose little peculiarities of temper and constitution... are so blended with blamele manners and a good heart as should shield them from wanton and cruel aggre ions. W. Cooke , Memoirs of S. Foote, I. ments. That peculiar faculty po e ed by inferior organisms of living on in each part after being cut in pieces is a manifest corollary to the other peculiarity just described: namely, that they consist of many repetitions of the same ele H. Spencer , Social Statics, p. 496. 3. The quality of being peculiar; individuality. Any distinguishing marks of style or peculiarity of thinking. =Syn. 2. Characteristic, idiosyncrasy, singularity. peculiarize (pē-kūʻlyär-īz), v. t.; pret. and pp. peculiarized , ppr. peculiarizing . [ peculiar + -ize .] To make peculiar; set apart; appropriate. Also spelled peculiarise . [Rare.] Swift There was to be no more distinction betwixt the children of Abraham and other people, and no one land more peculiarized than another. Nelson , Companion to Fasts and Festivals of Ch. of Eng[land, The Circumcision. ( Latham ) peculiarly (pē-kūlyär-li), adv . In a peculiar manner; in a manner not common to others; hence, in a remarkable or impre ive degree; especially; particularly; strangely: as, he had made this subject peculiarly his own; she was very peculiarly attired. peculiar ne (pē-kūʻlyär-nes), n. 1. The state being peculiar; peculiarity.-2. The state of being set apart; appropriatene . (Rare.] IMG:content-2537.png:[graphic][merged small][merged small] 4. Singular; unusual; uncommon; odd: as, the man has something peculiar in his manner. Whene'er we groan with ache or pain, Some common ailment of the race - Though doctors think the matter plain - That ours is "a peculiar case." O. W. Holmes, What we all think. Peculiar institution, a cant phrase for negro slavery, often spoken of by Southerners as "the peculiar domestic institution of the South."- Peculiar People. ( a ) A name given to the Hebrew nation. (b) A religious denomination found in E ex, Su ex, Surrey, and principally in Kent, England, which believes that one may immediately cease from sin and become perfect in moral life and in spiritual perception. They therefore have no preachers, creeds, ordinances, or church organization. They also profe to rely wholly upon prayer for the cure of disease. Also called Plumstead Peculiars, from the place in which the sect originated. Syn. 3. Particular, etc. See special. II. n. 1t. Exclusive property; that which belongs to one to the exclusion of others. The work was honoured and dignified by the peculiar ne of the place appointed for the same. J. Mede , Reverence of God's House (1638), p. 5. =