[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

peculiar \pecul"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.
      1913 webster

            and purify unto himself a peculiar people. --titus
                                                  ii. 14.
      1913 webster

            hymns . . . that christianity hath peculiar unto
            itself.                               --hooker.
      1913 webster

   2. particular; individual; special; appropriate.
      1913 webster

            while each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.
                                                  --milton.
      1913 webster

            my fate is juno's most peculiar care. --dryden.
      1913 webster

   3. unusual; singular; rare; strange; as, the sky had a
      peculiar appearance.
      1913 webster

   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.
          1913 webster

                beauty, which, either walking or asleep,
                shot forth peculiar graces.       --milton.
          1913 webster

                for naught so vile that on the earth doth live,
                but to the earth some special good doth give.
                                                  --shak.
          1913 webster
see also:
pecuniary peculiar special especial 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

peculiar \pecul"iar\, n.
   1. that which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a
      prerogative; a characteristic.
      1913 webster

            revenge is . . . the peculiar of heaven. --south.
      1913 webster

   2. eng. canon law a particular parish or church which is
      exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
court of peculiars dean of peculiars dean 

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

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: particulara, peculiara,
         speciala
     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: peculiara
see also:
curious funny odd queer rum rummy 
singular particulara peculiara speciala 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

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

[5] : Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

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".
   

[6] : Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

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. 

[7] : U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

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 codes: 64078

[8] : U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)

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

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