pectoralis 
minimus, a rare anomalous section of the pectoralis 
minor, arising from the first rib. Pectoralis minor 
(small pectoral muscle), a muscle situated immediately 
beneath the pectoralis major, arising from the third, 
fourth, and fifth ribs, and inserted into the coracoid pro- 
cess of the scapula. Also called entopectaralis. 
pectorally (pek'to-ral-i), adv. In a pectoral 
manner or position ; as regards the pectoral re- 
gion, or breast. 
pectoriloquial (pek"to-ri-lo'kwi-al), a. [< pec- 
toriloqtt-y + -til.] Pertaining to or of the na- 
ture of pectoriloquy. 
pectoriloquism (pek-to-ril'o-kwizm), n. [< 
pertoriloqn-y + -ism.'] 'Pectoriloquy. 
pectorilOQUOUS (pek-to-ril'o-kwus), a. [< pec- 
tuiiloqii-y + -meg.] Pectoriloquial. 
pectoriloquy (pek-to-ril'o-kwi), n. [< L. pec- 
tits (pector-), the breast, '+ loqui, speak. Cf. 
ventriloquy.} The transmission of the voice so 
that it is heard distinctly articulated in auscul- 
tation of the chest. It may be found over con- 
solidated lungs, over a cavity, and sometimes 
in health. 
pectorimyon (pek'to-ri-mi'on), n. ; pi. pecto- 
rimya (-a). [NL., < L. pectus ( pector-), breast, 
+ NL. ntyoa.J Any myon of the pectoral arch 
or shoulder-girdle: distinguished from pelvi- 
myon. Coues, The Auk, Jan., 1888, p. 104. 
pectose (pek'tos), n. [< Gr. TT^KTOC, fixed, con- 
gealed (see pectic), + -ose.] In chem., a sub- 
stance which has not yet been prepared in a 
pure state, but is believed to be contained in 
the pulp of fleshy fruit in the unripe state, also 
in fleshy roots and other vegetable organs. 
It is insoluble in water, but under the influence of acids 
and other reagents is transformed into a soluble substance 
called pectin, identical with that which exists in ripe fruits 
and imparts to their juice the property of gelatinizing 
when boiled. 
pectosic (pek-to'sik), . [< pectose + -ic.] De- 
rived from or containing pectose : as, pectosic 
acid. 
Pectostraca (pek-tos'tra-ka), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. 
in/KToc, fixed, congealed, + oaT/ianou, a tile, a 
potsherd, a shell.] Huxley's name of a division 
of entomostracous crustaceans, consisting of 
the Cirripcdia proper and the Kliizocepliala : 
synonymous with the class Cirripedia in an or- 
dinary sense. 
pectostracan (pek-tos'tra-kan), a. and n. [< 
Pectostraca + -an."] I. a. Fixed, as a crusta- 
cean ; of or pertaining to the Pectostraca. 
II. n. A pectostracous crustacean. 
pectostracous (pek-tos'tra-kus), a. [< Pectos- 
traca + -ows.] Same as pectostracan. 
pectOUS (pek'tus), a. [< Gr. m/Krdf, fixed, con- 
gealed (see pectic), + -os.] Pertaining to or 
consisting of pectose or pectin. 
pectunculate (pek-tuug'ku-lat), a. [< NL. 
"pectunculatus, < L. pectitnculus, a small scal- 
lop, lit. a little comb, < pecteii, a comb: see prc- 
ten.] In entom., having a row of minute spines 
or bristles resembling the teeth of a comb. 
Pectunculate maxilla, maxilhe in which the stipes 
or basal portion is edged with spines. 
Pectunculidse (pek-tung-ku'li-de), n. pi. [NL., 
< Pectunculus + -idx.] A family of bivalves, 
represented by the genus Peetunculus. The 
species are now united with the Arcidse. 
Pectunculus (pek-tung'ku-lus), n. [NL., < L. 
pectunculiis, a small scallop: see pedunculate.] 
1. A genus of bivalve 
mollusks of the family 
Arcidee, named by La- 
marck in 1799. Also 
called Axineea. 2. [I. 
e.; f>\. pectunculi (-11).] 
pi. Fine longitudinal 
striations on the walls 
of the Sylvian aque- 
duct. 
pectus (pek'tus), .; pi. 
peetora (pek'to-ra). 
[L.] The breast.' spe- 
cifically (a) lnornith.,the 
pectoral region; properly, 
the thoracic part of the 
under surface, but general- 
ly restricted to the anterior 
protuberant part of the in- Ptct 
ferior thoracic region. See 
abdomen, and cut under Mnfl. (6) In entom.. the lower 
surface of the thorax. In describing theColeoptera, Orthop- 
tera, and Hemiptera, many of the older entomologists com- 
monly restricted the term to the part lying below the wing- 
covers ; others used the word pectui for the lower surface 
of the prothorax. that of the mesothorax and metathorax 
being called postpectus. (c) In anat., the chest or the 
breast. 
pecul, n. See pii-ul. 
peculate (pek'u-lat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. pecu- 
lated, ppr. peculating. [< L. peculatus, pp. of 
peculari, defraud the public, embezzle public 
4350 
property, < pcculiiim, property: see peculium.] 
To appropriate to one's own use money or goods 
intrusted to one's care ; embezzle ; pilfer ; steal : 
originally, as in the Roman law, denoting em- 
bezzlement of moneys of the state. 
The worst punishment that can be inflicted on an idle, 
drunken, or peculating slave is to turn him adrift to work 
for his own living. Westminister Rev., CXXVIII. 455. 
peculatet (pek'u-lat), n. [= F.peculat = Sp. 
peculado = Pg. It. peculato, < L. peculatus, em- 
bezzlement, peculation, < peculari, embezzle, 
peculate: see peculate, v.] Peculation. 
The popular clamours of corruption and peculate, with 
which the nation had been so much possessed, were in a 
great measure dissipated. Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times. 
peculation (pek-u-la'shon ), n. [< L. as if *pecu- 
latio(n-), < peculari, peculate: see jieculate.] 
The act of peculating; the crime of appropriat- 
ing to one's own use money or goods intrusted 
to one's care; embezzlement; defalcation. 
One of these gentlemen was accused of the grossest 
peculations. Burke, On Fox's East India Bill. 
I wonder you didn't think of that before you accused 
him of fraud and peculation. 
Rowells, Modern Instance, xxxiv. 
Peculation Act. See Tilden Act, under act. 
peculator (pek'u-la-tor), n. [< Speculator, an 
embezzler of public money, < peculari, embez- 
zle, peculate: see peculate.] One who pecu- 
lates ; an embezzler ; a defaulter. 
She [London] is rigid in denouncing death 
On petty robbers, and indulges life 
And liberty, and oft-times honor too, 
To peculators of the public gold. 
Cowper, Task, i. 785. 
peculiar (pe-ku'lyar), a. and H. [< OF. peculier 
= Sp. Pg. peculiar "= It.peculiare,<li.peculiaris, 
pertaining to private property, one's own, prop- 
er, special, peculiar, < peculium, property in 
cattle, hence property in general : see peculi- 
.] I. a. 1. One's own; pertaining to one, 
not to many; of private, personal, or charac- 
teristic possession and use ; with to, belonging 
specially or particularly. 
Adam assigned to every creature a name peculiar to its 
nature. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, ii. 2. 
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, 
But seeming so, for my peculiar end. 
Shak., Othello, i. 1. 60. 
My wife is to dispose of her part (besides her own jewels 
and other peculiar things fit for her own use) as herself 
shall think fit. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 440. 
Adam . . . beheld 
Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep. 
Shot forth peculiar graces. Milton, P. L., v. 15. 
When I consider the frame of mind peculiar to a gentle- 
man, I suppose it graced with all the dignity and elevation 
of spirit that human nature is capable of. 
Steele, Guardian, No. 34. 
When faith is said to be a religious principle, it is ... 
the things believed, not the act of believing them, which 
is peculiar to religion. 
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, i. 191. 
2. Particular; distinct; individual. 
One peculiar nation to select 
From all the rest, of whom to be invoked. 
Milton, P. L., xii. 111. 
Multitudes formed peculiar trains of their own, and fol- 
lowed in the wake of the columns. 
New Princeton Rev., II. 243. 
3. Special; particular; select. 
We cannot have a new peculiar court-tire but these re- 
tainers will have it. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1. 
The Poets were 
Of Gods and Kings the most peculiar Care. 
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
The daughters of the year, 
One after one, thro' that still garden pass'd : 
Each, garlanded with her peculiar flower, 
Danced into light, and died into the shade. 
Tennyson, Gardener's Daughter. 
He [John Adams] appears to have been singularly want- 
ing in the peculiar tact and delicacy required in a diplo- 
matist. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiv. 
4. Singular; unusual; uncommon; odd: as, the 
man has something peculiar in his manner. 
Whene'er we groan with ache or pain, 
Some common ailment of the race 
Though doctors think the matter plain 
That ours is " a peculiar case." 
0. W. Holmes, What we all think. 
Peculiar Institution, a cant phrase for negro slavery, 
often spoken of by Southerners as "the peculiar domestic 
institution of the South." Peculiar People, (a) A name 
given to the Hebrew nation. (&) A religious denomina- 
tion found in Essex, Sussex, Surrey, and principally in 
Kent, England, which believes that one may immediately 
cease from sin and become perfect in moral life and in 
spiritual perception. They therefore have no preachers, 
creeds, ordinances, or church organization. They also 
profess to rely wholly upon prayer for the cure of disease. 
Also called Plunvfead Peculiars, f rom the place in which 
the sect originated. = Syn. 3. Particular, etc. See special. 
II. n. If. Exclusive property; that whioh 
belongs to one to the exclusion of others. 
pecunial 
The joys that the virgin mother had were such as con- 
cerned all the world ; and that part of them which was 
her pecitliar she would not conceal from persons apt to 
their entertainment. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 31. 
By tincture or reflection they augment 
Their small peculiar, though from human sight 
So far remote, with diminution seen. 
Milton, P. I,, vii. 368. 
When the Devill shewed our Saviour all the kingdomes 
of the Earth and their glory, that he would not shew him 
Ireland, but reserved it for himselfe ; it is probable true, 
for he hath kept it ever since for his own peculiar. 
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 78. 
2. A person or thing that is peculiar: as, the 
Plumstead Peculiars. 3. In canon law, a par- 
ticular parish or church which is exempted 
from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop 
in whose diocese it lies, such as a royal pecu- 
liar (a sovereign's free chapel, exempt from 
any jurisdiction but that of the sovereign); a 
parish or church pertaining to an archbishop, 
bishop, dean, chapter, or prebendary, etc., 
which is not under the jurisdiction of the 
bishop of the diocese in which it is situated, 
but under that of some other archbishop, bish- 
op, dean, etc. 4. In colonial and provincial 
Massachusetts, a parish, precinct, or district 
not yet erected into a town ; a portion set off 
from a town and made independent of it in re- 
spect to all or most matters of local adminis- 
tration, but not in respect to choosing a repre- 
sentative to the General Court. 5f. A mistress. 
Grose. Court of Peculiars, in Eng. eccles. law, a branch 
of the Court of Arches having jurisdiction over the pecu- 
liars of the archbishop of Canterbury. 
peculiarise, v. t. See peculiarize. 
peculiarity (pe-ku-li-ar'i-ti), n. ; pi. peculiarities 
(-tiz). [< ML'. peculiarita(t-)s, peculiarity/ L. 
peculiaris, peculiar: see peculiar.] 1. Private 
ownership; proprietorship; prerogative. 
What need we to chuse ministers by lot; what need we 
to disclaim all peculiaritie in goods? 
Bp. Hall, Epistles, 11. 6. 
2. That which is peculiar to or characteristic of 
a person or thing; a special characteristic or 
belonging. 
There are persons whose little peculiarities of temper 
and constitution ... are so blended with blameless man- 
ners and a good heart as should shield them from wanton 
and cruel aggressions. W. Cooke, Memoirs of S. Foote, I. 2. 
That peculiar faculty possessed by inferior organisms of 
living on in each part after being cut in pieces is a mani- 
fest corollary to the other peculiarity just described : name- 
ly, that they consist of many repetitions of the same ele- 
ments. H . Spencer, Social Statics, p. 496. 
3. The quality of being peculiar ; individuality. 
Any distinguishing marks of style or peculiarity of think- 
ing. Swtft. 
= Syn. 2. Characteristic, idiosyncrasy, singularity. 
peculiarize (pe-ku'lyar-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp. 
peculiarized, ppr. peculiarising. [< peculiar + 
-ize.] To make peculiar ; set apart; appropri- 
ate. Also spelled peculiarise. [Rare.] 
There was to be no more distinction betwixt the chil- 
dren of Abraham and other people, and no one land more 
peculiarized than another. 
Nelson, Companion to Fasts and Festivals of Ch. of Eng- 
[land, The Circumcision. (Latham.) 
peculiarly (pe-ku'lyar-li), adv. In a peculiar 
manner ; in a' manner not common to others ; 
hence, in a remarkable or impressive degree ; 
especially ; particularly ; strangely : as, he had 
made this subject peculiarly his own ; she was 
very peculiarly attired. 
peculiarness (pe-ku'lyar-nes), n. 1. The state 
of being peculiar; peculiarity. 2. The state of 
being set apart ; appropriateness. [Rare.] 
The work was honoured and dignified by the peculiar- 
ness of the place appointed for the same. 
J. Mede, Reverence of God's House (1638), p. 5. 
peculium (pe-ku'li-um), n. [L., property, esp. 
private property, that which belongs to one- 
self, one's own, orig. property in cattle (cf .fee 1 ), 
(.pecus (pecor-), pecus (peciid-), cattle, herd, = 
E. fee 1 : see fee 1 .] Private property ; a private 
purse; specifically, in Horn, law, that which was 
given by a father or master to his son, daugh- 
ter, or slave, as his or her private property. In 
civil law it embraces in its general sense all the property 
of which a slave or a son in his father's power had either 
the use or, in the case of the latter, the ownership. Ori- 
ginally such persons were under an absolute incapacity of 
owning anything, and the peculium might in strictness be 
taken back at any time. It was, however, gradually made 
competent for a son, though under his father's power, to 
hold certain kinds of property absolutely, such as the 
money he had made in war or in a liberal profession. In 
some cases the money reverted to the father on the son's 
death intestate. 
If we look only to our own petty peculium In the war, 
we have had some advantages. 
Burke, A Regicide Peace, i. 
pecunialt (P?-ku'ni-al), a. [< ME. p 
< OF. pecunial, pecuniel = It. pecuniale, < LL. 
