See Also: Peculiar(medicine)
peculiar(dictionary)
peculiar(dictionary)
PECULIAR, eccl(law)

peculiar (iou)



peculiar adjective & noun. LME.
[Latin peculiaris not held in common with others, from peculium property in cattle, private property, from pecu cattle, money. Cf. PECUNIARY.]
A. adjective.
Distinguished in nature or character; particular, special. LME.
Henry Miller The communion loaf..which each one receives only according to his peculiar state of grace. A. N. Wilson Tolstoy's ability to get along..with young men..was..a source of peculiar annoyance to his wife.
That exclusively belongs or pertains to or is characteristic of an individual person or thing, or group of persons or things. Now only of a quality, feature, etc., (formerly also of property, possessions, etc.). Foll. by to or (formerly) with possess. L15.
R. Macaulay As for flowers, there is a ruby-coloured pink peculiar to this place. D. M. Frame Self-contempt is a malady peculiar to man. J. Wainwright Police stations have an aura peculiar to themselves.
b. Astronomy. Designating or pertaining to the motion of an individual star etc. relative to a system of which it is part, esp. that component of its proper motion which is not due to parallax. E20.
Separate, independent; single. E16-L18.
W. Tooke The Khanate of Kazan subsisted as a peculiar state till the year 1552.
Unlike others, singular, unusual, strange, odd. E17.
funny peculiar: see FUNNY adjective.
G. Charles An eccentric aunt.., usually unmarried.., fond of peculiar clothes and hair styles. R. West A touch of silver gave her golden hair a peculiar etherealized burnish.
b. Astronomy. (Of a galaxy) not belonging to any of the common types; (of a star) showing features uncharacteristic of the spectral class to which it belongs. M20.
Special collocations: peculiar institution US History the system of black slavery in the Southern States of the US. peculiar jurisdiction Ecclesiastical Law: exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese. peculiar people (a) the Jews as God's chosen people; (b) Theology those chosen by God for salvation; (c) (with caps.) an evangelical fundamental Christian denomination founded in 1838 and relying on divine healing of disease.
b. noun.
Ecclesiastical. A parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese in which it lies. M16.
b. transf. Any place exempt from ordinary jurisdiction. L16-M17.
c. In the former colonies and provinces of New England: a district or piece of land not (yet) incorporated in a town. E18-E19.
Something which is the property of or belongs exclusively to an individual or group of individuals. arch. L16.
b. spec. = peculiar people (a), (b) above. E-M17.
A feature or quality exclusive to or characteristic of a thing. L16-M18.
An individual member of a group or collective whole; an item. E17-E18.
(Peculiar.) A member of the fundamentalist Peculiar People. L19.
Phrases: court of peculiars Hist.: having jurisdiction over the peculiars of the archbishop of Canterbury. Dean of peculiars a member of the clergy invested with the charge of a church or parish exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese in which it lies. one's own peculiar, one's peculiar one's private interest or special concern. royal peculiar a church or parish subject to the jurisdiction of the monarch only.
peculiarism noun (now rare) the fundamentalist doctrine or practices of the Peculiar People M19.
peculiarize verb trans. (a) appropriate exclusively to; (b) give peculiarity or singularity to: E17.