1. [adj]  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
2. [adj]  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"

1. \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.
   
            And purify unto himself a peculiar people. --Titus
                                                  ii. 14.
   
            Hymns . . . that Christianity hath peculiar unto
            itself.                               --Hooker.
   
   2. Particular; individual; special; appropriate.
   
            While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.
                                                  --Milton.
   
            My fate is Juno's most peculiar care. --Dryden.
   
   3. Unusual; singular; rare; strange; as, the sky had a
      peculiarappearance.
   
   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.
   
                Beauty, which, either walking or asleep, Shot
                forth peculiar graces.            --Milton.
   
                For naught so vile that on the earth doth live,
                But to the earth some special good doth give.
                                                  --Shak.
   
   

2. \Pe*cul"iar\, n.
   1. That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a
      prerogative; a characteristic.
   
            Revenge is . . . the peculiar of Heaven. --South.
   
   2. (Eng. Canon Law) A particular parish or church which is
      exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary.
   
   {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.
   
   

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").