| 释义 |
peculiar, a. and n.|pɪˈkjuːlɪə(r)|
Also 5 -ier, 6 -er, -yer, -eer, -yar, 6–7 -iare.
[a. obs. F. peculier (16th c. in Godef.), or ad. L. pecūliār-is of or relating to private property, f. pecūli-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.
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. Of property, material possession, etc. Obs.
c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. ix. (1885) 130 How necessarie it is þat the kynge haue grete possescions, and peculier livelod ffor his owne suirte. a1548Hall 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. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 6 The Sun, Aer, Water, Nature did not frame Peculiar; A Public gift I claim. a1668Davenant Man's the Master iv. i, Now even all peculiar fields are turn'd to common roads about this populous town. 1724De Foe Tour Gt. Brit. I. 123 Sturbridge Fair... This square..is separate and peculiar to the wholesale dealers in the woollen manufacture.
b. In general sense, esp. of qualities, features, characteristics, etc.
† 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.
1509Fisher 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. 1551Robinson 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. 1555Fardle of Facions ii. v. 148 It was a peculier maner of the Kynges of the Medes, to haue many wiues. 1708Pope Jan. & May 52 All other goods by fortune's hand are giv'n, A Wife is the peculiar gift of heav'n. 1721Bailey, Birch, a Tree peculiar to Great Britain. 1766Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) II. xiii. 222 A timidity peculiar to your sex. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. ii, Imitating the peculiar sound of every animal that he met. c1852S. Carolina Gaz. (Farmer Dict. Amer.), The dangers which at present threaten the peculiar domestic institutions of the South.
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.
[1890A. 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.] 1927H. N. Russell et al. Astron. II. xix. 668 The peculair motions of the fainter stars are more rapid than those of the brighter. 1936E. Hubble Realm of Nebulæ v. 106 It was expected that, when the solar motion was removed, the residual, peculiar motions of the nebulæ would be much smaller than the observed velocities and..that they would be distributed at random. 1967R. 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. 1975G. 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. 1978Pasachoff & 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.
†2. Of separate or distinct constitution or existence; independent, particular, individual; single.
1507Fisher Fun. Serm. Hen. VII, Wks. (1876) 272 He sente money to be dystrybuted for .x. M. masses peculeer to be sayd for hym. 1551Recorde Pathw. Knowl. ii. Introd., Minding to reserue the proofes to a peculiar boke which I will..set forth. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 11 The single and peculiar life is bound..To keepe it selfe from noyance. a1711Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 155 Ev'ry Thorn gave a peculiar Wound. 1799W. Tooke View Russian Emp. II. 50 The Khanate of Kazan subsisted as a peculiar state till the year 1552.
3. Distinguished in nature, character, or attributes from others; particular, special.
1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 2 Detracting..the excellent effects of our peculiar and singular weapon the Long Bowe. 1628Feltham Resolves ii. xxxi, We seldome find any, without a peculiar delight in some peculiar thing. 1642Rogers Naaman To Rdr., Sermons are more peculiar for the suppressing of vicious manners. 1776Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. (1869) II. 437 A more proper subject of peculiar taxation. 1849Grote Greece ii. xlvii. VI. 66 The position of the Corinthians was peculiar. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. iv. 35 This latter point..is one of peculiar interest.
4. a. Having a character exclusively its own, sui generis; unlike others, singular, uncommon, unusual, out-of-the-way; strange, odd, ‘queer’.
1608Topsell Serpents (1658) 598 The tongue of a serpent is peculiar; for..it is also cloven at the tip. 1726Butler 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. 1811A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. iii. (1818) 445 The odour is peculiar and aromatic; the taste gratefully acid. 1837Dickens Pickw. xx, Mr. Weller's knowledge of London was extensive and peculiar. 1888M. E. Braddon Fatal Three i. i, She is a girl of peculiar temper. Mod. colloq. He was always thought a little peculiar.
b. Astr. Of a galaxy: not belonging to any of the types, elliptical, spiral, and irregular, which include almost all galaxies.
1936E. Hubble Realm of Nebulæ ii. 47 The remaining irregulars might be arbitrarily placed in the regular sequence as highly peculiar objects. 1959Listener 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. 1972Jastrow & 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. 1973Sci. 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.
5. peculiar jurisdiction (peculiar 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.
c1525Abp. 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. 1555J. 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. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 94 The Archbishop whereof has also a peculiar Jurisdiction in thirteen Parishes within the City of London [etc.]. 1822D. & S. Lysons Brit., Devon, Colyton... The Dean and Chapter of Exeter are patrons of the Vicarage... The Church is in their peculiar jurisdiction. 1840Penny Cycl. XVII. 103/2 The living of Dorchester [Oxon.] is a perpetual curacy, in the jurisdiction of the peculiar court of Dorchester.
6. peculiar people:
a. a name applied to the Jews as God's own chosen people; hence transf. in religious sense. (Also p. race, peculiar nation, etc.)
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 550 Of his great mercy he hath visyted vs, I truste, his peculier people. 1535Coverdale 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. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxxi. 187 Having chosen out one peculiar Nation for his Subjects. 1738Wesley Ps. li. xxi, The dear peculiar Race Their grateful Sacrifice shall bring.
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.
1875Punch 19 June 267/1 Of course the Peculiar People have the right to believe in miracle and also the right to disbelieve in medicine. 1892Spectator 19 Mar. 391 Drugs may be dispensed with altogether, as by the Peculiar People or the Faith Healers. 1901Essex Weekly News 29 Mar. 2/4 ‘Peculiar’ parents censured at Barking.
†7. in peculiar, as a peculiarity; in particular.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 315 Egipt had this in peculiar, that no other order, no not a senator, might be president or govern among them. 1690Locke Govt. i. xi. §162 One may as well say,..this Dominion was to belong in peculiar to one of his Issue. 1704Norris 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.)
I. In general senses.
1. a. A peculiar property or possession; a property or privilege exclusively one's own.
1650T. B. Worcester's Apophth. 105 Leave was obtained..that he might be buried in Windsor Castle (where there is a peculiar for the family). 1737Whiston Josephus, Hist. v. xi. §2 They would preserve..that temple which was their peculiar. 1846Grote 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. = peculiar people (A. 6 a): said of the Jews, and of Christian believers. Obs.
1609Bible (Douay) Mal. iii. 17 And they shal be to me..to my peculiar, and I wil spare them, as a man spareth his sonne. a1617Bayne On Eph. (1658) 116 Beleevers are a peculiar to God, are set apart. a1638Mede Wks. (1672) 181 We who are God's peculiars, must demean our selves peculiarly both toward God and man. 1659Hammond On Ps. cvi. 40 He would own them for ever as his peculiar.
†c. One's own wife or mistress. Obs.
1615G. 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. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Peculiar, a Mistress.
†2. one's peculiar, one's private interest or special concern. Obs.
1625in Cosin's Corr. (Surtees) i. 60 In respect of my peculiar I am better. 1637R. Ashley tr. Malvezzi's David Persecuted 54 Hee is governed by that which appertaines to the King, and not by his owne peculiar. 1720–1Lett. 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.
†3. A peculiar attribute or quality; a peculiarity; a special or exclusive characteristic. Obs.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. ii. (Arb.) 21 A peculiar, which our speech hath in many things differing from theirs. 1625Bp. R. Montagu App. Cæsar 231 Omnipresence is the absolute Peculiar of the Almighty. 1657W. 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. 1701Norris Ideal World 206 There is this peculiar in vision that is not in our other senses, that it includes an outward objective perception. a1750A. Hill Wks. (1753) II. 396 Your poetry is a peculiar, that will make it impossible, you should be forgotten.
†4. An individual member of a class or part of a collective whole; a particular, item, or detail.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God vii. ii. (1620) 247 Why..could not he..extend his generall power through each peculiar? 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. vi. v. 365, I shall..speak only of two peculiars more.
II. Specific and technical senses.
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.)
1562Bp. 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 speluncæ latronum. 1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 309 Shorham is but a Peculiar to the Archbishop, who holds his prerogatiue wheresoeuer his lands do lie. 1658Phillips, The Court of Peculiars. 1704J. 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. 1768Blackstone 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. 1865Pall 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. 1899Westm. 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. transf. and fig. A place, district, office, etc., exempt from ordinary jurisdiction.
1591G. 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. 1605Camden Rem. 4 That Scotland was by them accounted an exempt kingdome, and a Peculiar properly appertaining to the Roman Chappell. 1651N. 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.
†6. 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’.
1720Connect. 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. 1737Ibid. 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. 1739Ibid. 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. 1779Vermont State Papers (1823) 297. 1809 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.
7. a. A nickname in Oxford (c 1837–8) for members of the ‘Evangelical’ party. (Cf. A. 6 a.)
1837J. H. Newman Let. in Purcell Manning (1895) I. 224 The amusing thing is that the unfortunate Peculiars are attacked on so many sides. 1838Bp. Wilberforce Diary in Ashwell Life (1879) I. 119 [He] had all the faults of the low tone of the Peculiars strongly marked. 1895Purcell Manning I. 114 ‘Puseyites and Peculiars’ stood shoulder to shoulder.
b. One of the Peculiar People: see A. 6 b.
1876C. 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’. 1893in Daily News 8 Apr. 7/4 All you who mean to follow in the same old way and be Peculiars follow me. |