The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Peculiar \Pe*cul"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.
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            Hymns . . . that Christianity hath peculiar unto
            itself.                               --Hooker.
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   2. Particular; individual; special; appropriate.
      [1913 Webster]

            While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.
                                                  --Milton.
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            My fate is Juno's most peculiar care. --Dryden.
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   3. Unusual; singular; rare; strange; as, the sky had a
      peculiar appearance.
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   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.
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                For naught so vile that on the earth doth live,
                But to the earth some special good doth give.
                                                  --Shak.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Peculiar \Pe*cul"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.
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   2. (Eng. Canon Law) A particular parish or church which is
      exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary.
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   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]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

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,
           peculiar, queer, rum, rummy, singular]
    2: unique or specific to a person or thing or category; "the
       particular demands of the job"; "has a particular 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: particular(a), peculiar(a),
       special(a)]
    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

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



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").


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.



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