The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Peculation \Pec`u*la"tion\, n.
   The act or practice of peculating, or of defrauding the
   public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods
   intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement;
   embezzlement.
   [1913 Webster]

         Every British subject . . . active in the discovery of
         peculations has been ruined.             --Burke.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

peculation
    n 1: the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted
         to your care but actually owned by someone else [syn:
         embezzlement, peculation, defalcation,
         misapplication, misappropriation]

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

PECULATION, civil law. The unlawful appropriation by a depositary of public
funds, of the property of the government entrusted to his care, to his own
use or that of others. Domat, Suppl. au Droit Public, liv. 3, tit. 5.