Peculiar \Pe*cul"iar\, a. [L. peculiaris, fr. peculium private
property, akin to pecunia money: cf. OF. peculier. See
Pecuniary.]
1. One's own; belonging solely or especially to an
individual; not possessed by others; of private, personal,
or characteristic possession and use; not owned in common
or in participation.
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And purify unto himself a peculiar people. --Titus
ii. 14.
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Hymns . . . that Christianity hath peculiar unto
itself. --Hooker.
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2. Particular; individual; special; appropriate.
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While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.
--Milton.
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My fate is Juno's most peculiar care. --Dryden.
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3. Unusual; singular; rare; strange; as, the sky had a
peculiar appearance.
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Syn: Peculiar, Special, Especial.
Usage: Peculiar is from the Roman peculium, which was a thing
emphatically and distinctively one's own, and hence
was dear. The former sense always belongs to peculiar
(as, a peculiar style, peculiar manners, etc.), and
usually so much of the latter as to involve feelings
of interest; as, peculiar care, watchfulness,
satisfaction, etc. Nothing of this kind belongs to
special and especial. They mark simply the relation of
species to genus, and denote that there is something
in this case more than ordinary; as, a special act of
Congress; especial pains, etc.
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Beauty, which, either walking or asleep,
Shot forth peculiar graces. --Milton.
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For naught so vile that on the earth doth live,
But to the earth some special good doth give.
--Shak.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Peculiar \Pe*cul"iar\, n.
1. That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a
prerogative; a characteristic.
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Revenge is . . . the peculiar of Heaven. --South.
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2. (Eng. Canon Law) A particular parish or church which is
exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary.
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Court of Peculiars (Eng. Law), a branch of the Court of
Arches having cognizance of the affairs of peculiars.
--Blackstone.
Dean of peculiars. See under Dean, 1.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
peculiar
adj 1: beyond or deviating from the usual or expected; "a curious
hybrid accent"; "her speech has a funny twang"; "they
have some funny ideas about war"; "had an odd name";
"the peculiar aromatic odor of cloves"; "something
definitely queer about this town"; "what a rum
fellow"; "singular behavior" [syn: curious, funny,
odd, queer, rum, rummy, singular]
2: unique or specific to a person or thing or category; "the
particular demands of the job"; "has a paraticular
preference for Chinese art"; "a peculiar bond of sympathy
between them"; "an expression peculiar to Canadians";
"rights peculiar to the rich"; "the special features of a
computer"; "my own special chair" [syn: particular(a), peculiar(a),
special(a)]
3: markedly different from the usual; "a peculiar hobby of
stuffing and mounting bats"; "a man...feels it a peculiar
insult to be taunted with cowardice by a woman"-Virginia
Woolf
4: characteristic of one only; distinctive or special; "the
peculiar character of the Government of the U.S."-
R.B.Taney [syn: peculiar(a)]
WordNet (r) 2.0
159 Moby Thesaurus words for "peculiar":
aberrant, abnormal, absurd, anomalous, another, appropriate,
appropriate to, arbitrary, atypical, bizarre, categorical,
characteristic, characterizing, classificational, classificatory,
connotative, contrastive, crank, crankish, cranky, crotchety,
curious, defining, demonstrative, denominative, denotative,
designative, deviant, deviate, deviative, diacritical, diagnostic,
differencing, different, differential, differentiative,
discriminating, discriminative, distinct, distinctive,
distinguished, distinguishing, divergent, divisional, divisionary,
dotty, eccentric, else, emblematic, erratic, evidential,
exceptional, exhibitive, expressive, extraordinary, fey, figural,
figurative, flaky, freaked out, freakish, freaky, funny,
identifying, ideographic, idiocratic, idiosyncratic, implicative,
in character, indicating, indicative, indicatory, individual,
individualizing, individuating, intrinsic, irregular, kinky, kooky,
maggoty, marked, meaningful, metaphorical, naming, native to,
natural to, not that sort, not the same, not the type, nutty, odd,
oddball, of a sort, of another sort, of sorts, off, off the wall,
offbeat, ordinal, other, other than, otherwise, out,
out-of-the-way, outlandish, particular, passing strange,
pathognomonic, personal, personalizing, private, proper, quaint,
queer, quintessential, quirky, rare, representative, rum,
screwball, screwy, semantic, semiotic, separative, signalizing,
significant, significative, signifying, single, singular, sort,
special, specific, strange, subdivisional, suggestive, sui generis,
symbolic, symbolistic, symbological, symptomatic, symptomatologic,
taxonomic, true to form, twisted, typal, typical, uncommon,
unconventional, uncustomary, unearthly, unique, unnatural,
unorthodox, unusual, wacky, weird, whimsical, wondrous strange
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Peculiar
as used in the phrase "peculiar people" in 1 Pet. 2:9, is
derived from the Lat. peculium, and denotes, as rendered in the
Revised Version ("a people for God's own possession"), a special
possession or property. The church is the "property" of God, his
"purchased possession" (Eph. 1:14; R.V., "God's own
possession").
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
PECULIAR, eccl. law. In England, a particular parish or church, which has,
within itself, independent of the ordinary jurisdiction, power to grant
probate of wills, and the like. 1 Eng. Eccl. R. 72, note; Shelf. on Mar. &
Div. 538. Vide Court of peculiars.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
Peculiar, MO (city, FIPS 56756)
Location: 38.72309 N, 94.45786 W
Population (1990): 1777 (673 housing units)
Area: 3.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 64078
U.S. Gazetteer (1990)
Peculiar, MO -- U.S. city in Missouri
Population (2000): 2604
Housing Units (2000): 983
Land area (2000): 3.496290 sq. miles (9.055348 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.046421 sq. miles (0.120231 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 3.542711 sq. miles (9.175579 sq. km)
FIPS code: 56756
Located within: Missouri (MO), FIPS 29
Location: 38.720896 N, 94.456733 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 64078
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Peculiar, MO
Peculiar
U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)
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