From: Arnt Gulbrandsen (arnt_at_gulbrandsen.priv.no)
Date: Wed Feb 27 2002 - 13:51:41 PST
"Richard S. Holmes" <rsholmes_at_MailBox.Syr.Edu>
> Consulting the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, we also find:
Ah, the queen of dictionaries!
Since this round looks like it'll need a few definitions, let me help
things along a bit with an excerpt from the god-emperor of dictionaries.
--Arnt
peculiar, part of speech a. and n.
Alvey transcription {IPA: pI"kju:lI@(r)}
variant form(s)
Also (15th c.) -ier, (16th c.) -er, -yer, -eer, -yar, (16th c.-17th
c.) -iare.
etymology a. obs. F. peculier (16th c. in Godef.), or ad. L.
peculiar-is of or relating to private property, f. peculi-um property
in cattle, private property, that which is one's own, f. pecu cattle.
Cf. also OF. peculiaire (15th c.) in same sense.
A. adj.
A. 1. That is one's own private property; that belongs or pertains to,
or characterizes, an individual person, place, or thing, or
group of persons or things, as distinct from others. Const.
with preceding possessive (my own, the king's own), or with to.
peculiar to now always denotes 'belonging exclusively to`;
formerly it might denote 'belonging specially to`.
A. 1. a. (obs) Of property, material possession, etc. Obs.
QUOTATION(S):
circa 1460 obs. FORTESCUE, Abs. & Lim. Mon. ix. (1885) 130 "How
necessarie it is pat the kynge haue grete possescions, and
peculier livelod ffor his owne suirte."
before 1548 HALL, Chron., Hen. VI 151 "The Duke of Gloucester
had not so muche aduaunced..the common wealth and publique
vtilite, as his awne priuate thinges & peculier estate."
1652 NEEDHAM, tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 6 "The Sun, Aer, Water,
Nature did not frame Peculiar; A Public gift I claim."
before 1668 DAVENANT, Man's the Master IV. i, "Now even all
peculiar fields are turn'd to common roads about this populous
town."
1724 DE FOE, Tour Gt. Brit. I. 123 "Sturbridge Fair... This
square..is separate and peculiar to the wholesale dealers in
the woollen manufacture."
A. 1. b. In general sense, esp. of qualities, features,
characteristics, etc. obs. peculiar institution, a cant phrase
in U.S. for Negro slavery, formerly often spoken of in the
Southern states as 'the peculiar domestic institution of the
South`. Obs.
QUOTATION(S):
1509 FISHER, Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 294 "The
dayes that by the chirche were appoynted she kept them
diligently and sereously, & in especyall the holy lent..besyde
her other peculer fastes of deuocion, as saint Anthony, mary
Maudeleyn."
1551 ROBINSON, tr. More's Utop. I. (1895) 51 "There is an other
[cause] which as I suppose is proper and peculiare to yow
Englishe men alone."
1555 Fardle of Facions II. v. 148 "It was a peculier maner of
the Kynges of the Medes, to haue many wiues."
1708 POPE, Jan. & May 52 "All other goods by fortune's hand are
giv'n, A Wife is the peculiar gift of heav'n."
1721 BAILEY, , "Birch, a Tree peculiar to Great Britain."
1766 FORDYCE, Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) II. xiii. 222 "A timidity
peculiar to your sex."
1826 DISRAELI, Viv. Grey VI. ii, "Imitating the peculiar sound
of every animal that he met."
circa 1852 S. Carolina Gaz. (Farmer Dict. Amer.), "The dangers
which at present threaten the peculiar domestic institutions of
the South."
A. 1. c. Astr. Applied to the motion or velocity of a celestial object
relative to a group of objects of the same kind; spec. that of
a star in the frame of reference in which the average velocity
of the stars in the neighbourhood of the sun is zero.
QUOTATION(S):
[1890 A. M. CLERKE, Syst. Stars xxii. 340 "The motus peculiaris
itself is only a projection upon the sphere of a line of travel
which may make any angle with the line of sight.]"
1927 H. N. RUSSELL, et al. Astron. II. xix. 668 "The peculair
motions of the fainter stars are more rapid than those of the
brighter."
1936 E. HUBBLE, Realm of Nebulę v. 106 "It was expected that,
when the solar motion was removed, the residual, peculiar
motions of the nebulę would be much smaller than the observed
velocities and..that they would be distributed at random."
1967 R. KURTH, Introd. Stellar Statistics ii. 14 "The
parallactic and peculiar motions of the stars close to the
Sun..can be estimated if the hypothesis..is adopted that the
average of the peculiar motions vanishes."
1975 G. O. ABELL, Exploration of Universe (ed. 3) xx. 396/1
"The space velocity of a star, its motion with respect to the
sun, is made up of both the star's peculiar velocity and a
component due to solar motion."
1978 PASACHOFF, & KUTNER, University Astron. iii. 62 "Most
peculiar velocities are a few tens of km/sec; very few are
above 100 km/sec."
Ibid. 64 "If we observe a large number of stars, their peculiar
motions, since they are random, will average to about zero."
A. 2. (obs) Of separate or distinct constitution or existence;
independent, particular, individual; single.
QUOTATION(S):
1507 obs. FISHER, Fun. Serm. Hen. VII, Wks. (1876) 272 "He
sente money to be dystrybuted for .x. M. masses peculeer to be
sayd for hym."
1551 RECORDE, Pathw. Knowl. II. Introd., "Minding to reserue
the proofes to a peculiar boke which I will..set forth."
1602 SHAKES., Ham. III. iii. 11 "The single and peculiar life
is bound..To keepe it selfe from noyance."
before 1711 KEN, Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 155 "Ev'ry
Thorn gave a peculiar Wound."
1799 W. TOOKE, View Russian Emp. II. 50 "The Khanate of Kazan
subsisted as a peculiar state till the year 1552."
A. 3. Distinguished in nature, character, or attributes from others;
particular, special.
QUOTATION(S):
1590 SIR J. SMYTH, Disc. Weapons 2 "Detracting..the excellent
effects of our peculiar and singular weapon the Long Bowe."
1628 FELTHAM, Resolves II. xxxi, "We seldome find any, without
a peculiar delight in some peculiar thing."
1642 ROGERS, Naaman To Rdr., "Sermons are more peculiar for the
suppressing of vicious manners."
1776 ADAM SMITH, W.N. V. ii. (1869) II. 437 "A more proper
subject of peculiar taxation."
1849 GROTE, Greece II. xlvii. VI. 66 "The position of the
Corinthians was peculiar."
1860 TYNDALL, Glac. I. iv. 35 "This latter point..is one of
peculiar interest."
A. 4. a. Having a character exclusively its own, sui generis; unlike
others, singular, uncommon, unusual, out-of-the-way; strange,
odd, 'queer`.
QUOTATION(S):
1608 TOPSELL, Serpents (1658) 598 "The tongue of a serpent is
peculiar; for..it is also cloven at the tip."
1726 BUTLER, Serm. Forgiveness Wks. 1874 II. 113 "We are in
such a peculiar position, with respect to injuries done to
ourselves, that we can scarcely..see them as they really are.
" 1811 A. T. THOMSON, Lond. Disp. III. (1818) 445 "The odour is
peculiar and aromatic; the taste gratefully acid.
" 1837 DICKENS, Pickw. xx, "Mr. Weller's knowledge of London
was extensive and peculiar.
" 1888 M. E. BRADDON, Fatal Three I. i, "She is a girl of
peculiar temper."
Mod. colloq. "He was always thought a little peculiar."
A. 4. b. Astr. Of a galaxy: not belonging to any of the types,
elliptical, spiral, and irregular, which include almost all
galaxies.
QUOTATION(S):
1936 E. HUBBLE, Realm of Nebulę ii. 47 "The remaining
irregulars might be arbitrarily placed in the regular sequence
as highly peculiar objects."
1959 Listener 31 Dec. 1152/1 "There are a few galaxies that do
not fit conveniently into this classification of spirals,
ellipticals, and irregulars. These are the 'peculiar`
galaxies."
1972 JASTROW, & THOMPSON, Astron. 213 "In all the cases that
have been examined thus far, the unusual event that altered the
appearance of the peculiar galaxy seems to have been either a
collision with another galaxy, or a gigantic explosion within
the galaxy."
1973 Sci. Amer. Dec. 39/1 "One or 2 percent, however, do not
conform. Because of their bizarre appearance or unusual spectra
they are known to astronomers as 'peculiar` galaxies."
A. 5. peculiar jurisdiction (authority, etc.), in Canon Law, a
jurisdiction proper to itself, exempt from or not subject to
the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese. Cf. B. 5.
QUOTATION(S):
circa 1525 ABP. WARHAM, Let. to Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett.
Ser. III. cxxxv, "The value of the benefices within the
diocesse of Canterburie and the iurisdiction peculiar of the
same."
1555 J. PHILPOT, in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1799, "I haue not
offended in your Dioces. For that whiche I spake..was in Paules
Churche..which..is a peculiar iurisdiction belonging to the
Deane of Paules."
1726 AYLIFFE, Parergon 94 "The Archbishop whereof has also a
peculiar Jurisdiction in thirteen Parishes within the City of
London [etc.]."
1822 D., & S. LYSONS, Brit., Devon, "Colyton... The Dean and
Chapter of Exeter are patrons of the Vicarage... The Church is
in their peculiar jurisdiction."
1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 103/2 "The living of Dorchester [Oxon.]
is a perpetual curacy, in the jurisdiction of the peculiar
court of Dorchester."
A. 6. peculiar people:
A. 6. a. a name applied to the Jews as God's own chosen people; hence
transf. in religious sense. (Also p. race , nation, etc.)
QUOTATION(S):
1494 FABYAN, Chron. VII. 550 "Of his great mercy he hath
visyted vs, I truste, his peculier people."
1535 COVERDALE, Deut. xiv. 2 "The Lord hath chosen the to be
his awne peculier people from amonge all the nacions."
---, Titus ii. 14 "To pourge vs to be a peculiar people vnto
himselfe."
1651 HOBBES, Leviath. II. xxxi. 187 "Having chosen out one
peculiar Nation for his Subjects."
1738 WESLEY, Ps. LI. xxi, "The dear peculiar Race Their
grateful Sacrifice shall bring.
A. 6. b. A religious sect (called also the Plumstead Peculiars)
founded in 1838, and most numerous about London. They have no
preachers, creeds, ordinances, or church organization, and they
rely wholly on prayer for the cure of disease, rejecting
medical aid; this last is the feature which brings them
specially under public notice.
QUOTATION(S):
1875 Punch 19 June 267/1 "Of course the Peculiar People have
the right to believe in miracle and also the right to
disbelieve in medicine."
1892 Spectator 19 Mar. 391 "Drugs may be dispensed with
altogether, as by the Peculiar People or the Faith Healers."
1901 Essex Weekly News 29 Mar. 2/4 "'Peculiar` parents censured
at Barking."
A. 7. (obs) obs. in peculiar, as a peculiarity; in particular.
QUOTATION(S):
1607 TOPSELL, Four-f. Beasts 315 "Egipt had this in peculiar,
that no other order, no not a senator, might be president or
govern among them."
1690 LOCKE, Govt. I. xi. sect. 162 "One may as well say,..this
Dominion was to belong in peculiar to one of his Issue."
1704 NORRIS, Ideal World II. xii. 435 "As for Truth he must be
a great stranger to her and to himself too, that shall look
upon it as a possession in peculiar."
B. n. (absolute uses of the adj.)
B. I. In general senses.
B. I. 1. a. A peculiar property or possession; a property or privilege
exclusively one's own.
QUOTATION(S):
1650 T. B., Worcester's Apophth. 105 "Leave was obtained..that
he might be buried in Windsor Castle (where there is a peculiar
for the family)."
1737 WHISTON, Josephus, Hist. V. xi. sect. 2 "They would
preserve..that temple which was their peculiar.
" 1846 GROTE, Greece II. vi. II. 543 "How far the peculiar of
the primitive Sparta extended we have no means of determining."
1865 ---, Plato I. xiv. 451 "A peculiar appertaining to
philosophers, distinct from though analogous to the peculiar of
each several art."
B. I. 1. b. (obs) = obs. peculiar people (A. 6a): said of the Jews,
and of Christian believers. Obs.
QUOTATION(S):
1609 BIBLE, (Douay) Mal. iii. 17 "And they shal be to me..to my
peculiar, and I wil spare them, as a man spareth his sonne."
before 1617 BAYNE, On Eph. (1658) 116 "Beleevers are a peculiar
to God, are set apart."
before 1638 MEDE, Wks. (1672) 181 "We who are God's peculiars,
must demean our selves peculiarly both toward God and man."
1659 HAMMOND, On Ps. cvi. 40 "He would own them for ever as his
peculiar."
B. I. 1. c. (obs) One's own wife or mistress. Obs.
QUOTATION(S):
1615 obs. G. SANDYS, Trav. 66 "Yet are they [Turks] to meddle
with none but their owne peculiars: the offending woman they
drowne, and the man they gansh.
" before 1700 B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, "Peculiar, a Mistress."
B. I. 2. (obs) obs. one's peculiar, one's private interest or special
concern. Obs.
QUOTATION(S):
1625 in Cosin's Corr. (Surtees) I. 60 "In respect of my
peculiar I am better."
1637 R. ASHLEY, tr. Malvezzi's David Persecuted 54 "Hee is
governed by that which appertaines to the King, and not by his
owne peculiar."
1720-1 Lett. fr. Mist's Jrnl. (1722) II. 256 "The Concern they
will learn for the Affairs of the Universe, will naturally lead
them to a close attention to their own Peculiar.
B. I. 3. (obs) A peculiar attribute or quality; a peculiarity; a
special or exclusive characteristic. Obs.
QUOTATION(S):
1589 obs. PUTTENHAM, Eng. Poesie I. ii. (Arb.) 21 "A peculiar,
which our speech hath in many things differing from theirs."
1625 BP. R. MONTAGU, App. Cęsar 231 "Omnipresence is the
absolute Peculiar of the Almighty."
1657 W. RAND, tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc I. 150 "Peradventure
[those Stigmata, or insensible parts] might..belong to some
peculiar of that disease which is termed Elephantiasis."
1701 NORRIS, Ideal World 206 "There is this peculiar in vision
that is not in our other senses, that it includes an outward
objective perception."
before 1750 A. HILL, Wks. (1753) II. 396 "Your poetry is a
peculiar, that will make it impossible, you should be
forgotten."
B. I. 4. (obs) An individual member of a class or part of a collective
whole; a particular, item, or detail.
QUOTATION(S):
1610 obs. HEALEY, St. Aug. Citie of God VII. ii. (1620) 247
"Why..could not he..extend his generall power through each
peculiar?"
1713 DERHAM, Phys.-Theol. VI. v. 365, "I shall..speak only of
two peculiars more."
B. II. Specific and technical senses.
B. II. 5. a. Eccl. A parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of
the ordinary or bishop in whose diocese it lies, either as a
royal peculiar (i.e. a chapel exempt from any jurisdiction but
that of the sovereign) or as subject to the jurisdiction of a
bishop of another diocese, or to that of a dean, chapter,
prebendary, etc. court of peculiars, a branch of the court of
arches having jurisdiction over the peculiars of the archbishop
of Canterbury. (Peculiars were, for most purposes, abolished by
Act 10 & 11 Vict. c. 98.)
QUOTATION(S):
1562 BP. W. ALLEY, in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. xxxi. 310
"That Bishops may have jurisdiction to call all criminal causes
before them, and to reform other disorders in all Peculiars,
and places exempt, which be speluncę latronum."
1631 WEEVER, Anc. Fun. Mon. 309 "Shorham is but a Peculiar to
the Archbishop, who holds his prerogatiue wheresoeuer his lands
do lie."
1658 PHILLIPS, , "The Court of Peculiars."
1704 J. HARRIS, Lex. Techn. I, "Peculiar, signifies a
particular Parish or Church that hath Jurisdiction within its
self, for Probat of Wills, &c. exempt from the Ordinary, and
the Bishops Courts."
1768 BLACKSTONE, Comm. III. v. 65 "The court of peculiars is a
branch of and annexed to the court of arches. It has a
jurisdiction over all those parishes dispersed through the
province of Canterbury in the midst of other dioceses, which
are exempt from the ordinary's jurisdiction, and subject to the
metropolitan only."
1865 Pall Mall G. 21 Aug. 9/1 "Burian, the royal deanery, has
been a peculiar since the days of Athelstan, and kept its
privileges when other peculiars were abolished."
1899 Westm. Gaz. 29 Mar. 10/2 "The Dean of the Arches took his
title from the old Court of Peculiars of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, who formerly exercised jurisdiction over thirteen
exempt parishes in the diocese of London and fifty-seven
parishes called 'peculiars` in other dioceses... These
'peculiars` were abolished about fifty years ago, and the Court
of which the Dean of the Arches was Dean went with them."
B. II. 5. b. transf. and fig. A place, district, office, etc., exempt
from ordinary jurisdiction.
QUOTATION(S):
1591 G. FLETCHER, Russe Commw. (Hakl. Soc.) 37 "Out of the
province..of Vagha, there is given him for a peculiar exempted
out of the Chetfird of Posolskoy, 32,000 rubbels.
" 1605 CAMDEN, Rem. 4 "That Scotland was by them accounted an
exempt kingdome, and a Peculiar properly appertaining to the
Roman Chappell."
1651 N. BACON, Disc. Govt. Eng. II. iv. (1739) 21 "It [the
Chancery] soon becomes a kind of Peculiar, exempting it self
from the ordinary course in manner of Trial, and from the
ordinary rules of Law."
B. II. 6. (obs) In the former colonies and provinces of New England: A
district, or piece of land, not included in any 'town`, nor as
yet incorporated as a 'town`.
QUOTATION(S):
1720 Connect. Col. Rec. (1872-4) VI. 210 "Resolved..That Mr.
John Read, who dwells between Fairfield and Danbury, be
likewise annually listed, as a peculiar to Danbury."
1737 Ibid. VIII. 133 "All peculiars, or lands not as yet laid
within the bounds of any town,..shall be assessed by the rates
of the next town unto it.
" 1739 Ibid. 230 "Being informed that a certain piece of land
in the county of Windham..is not in any town but still remains
a peculiar,..Be it enacted..That the said tract of land be
annexed to the town of Voluntown."
1779 Vermont State Papers (1823) 297.
1809 obs. KENDALL, Trav. I. ii. 17 "Precincts or peculiars are
in some cases ordered to be rated at or in certain towns, and
in such cases are rated and governed by the town."
B. II. 7. a. A nickname in Oxford (c 1837-8) for members of the
'Evangelical` party. (Cf. A. 6a. )
QUOTATION(S):
1837 J. H. NEWMAN, Let. in Purcell Manning (1895) I. 224 "The
amusing thing is that the unfortunate Peculiars are attacked on
so many sides."
1838 BP. WILBERFORCE, Diary in Ashwell Life (1879) I. 119 "[He]
had all the faults of the low tone of the Peculiars strongly
marked."
1895 PURCELL, Manning I. 114 "'Puseyites and Peculiars` stood
shoulder to shoulder."
B. II. 7. b. One of the Peculiar People: see A. 6b.
QUOTATION(S):
1876 C. M. DAVIES, Unorth. Lond. 175 (heading) "The Plumstead
'Peculiars`."
Ibid. 176 "The risk..of having a..contagious disease spread..by
the manipulations of these 'Peculiars`."
1893 in Daily News 8 Apr. 7/4 "All you who mean to follow in
the same old way and be Peculiars follow me."
--
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