pec·u·late

(pĕk′yə-lāt′)

tr. & intr.v. pec·u·lat·ed, pec·u·lat·ing, pec·u·lates

To embezzle (funds) or engage in embezzlement.

[Latin pecūlārī, pecūlāt-, from pecūlium, private property; see peku- in Indo-European roots.]

pec′u·la′tion n.

pec′u·la′tor n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

peculator - someone who violates a trust by taking (money) for his own use

defalcator, embezzler

beguiler, cheater, deceiver, trickster, slicker, cheat - someone who leads you to believe something that is not true

stealer, thief - a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

(18) Presenting the rhetorical equivalent of a well-stamped passport, Sylphid outlines her previous travels from her birthplace in Sicily to the courts of Versailles, "the hot sands of the eastern world," and "the black desarts of the frozen pole." Having observed life in all degrees and stations, Sylphid explains that her present "task [is] to explore the haunts of artificial beings; to watch, unseen, at the toilets of coquets, in the chambers of prudes; at the altars of pious hypocrites; in the vortex of dissipation; on the couch of indolence; in the gloomy closet of avarice, and the superb temple of the unblushing peculator" (16).

Mary Robinson's Sylphid self: the end of feminine self-fashioning

The chief character, Orfitus, is managing director, bankroller, and peculator of the company.

Tyrannin ylistys: Runot: 1970-1981

Dante's flatterers are "plunged in human filth" and "fouled with ordure"; Ginsberg's men, sobbing with despair, defied pollution and "jumped in the filthy Passaic" In the Inferno the peculators are boiled in sticky pitch; Ginsberg's pals are also "burned alive."

Ginsberg's Inferno: Dante and "Howl"

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