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actions which is acquired by their frequent repetition; as, habit is second nature; also, peculiar ways of acting; characteristic forms of behavior. A man of very shy, retired habits. W. Irving.

One of the peculiar, long, narrow feathers on the neck of fowls, most noticeable on the cock, -- often used in making artificial flies; hence, any feather so used.

Having a peculiar or characteristic hand. As poisonous tongued as handed. Shak.

The cast or form of writing peculiar to each hand or person; chirography.

The peculiar quality exhibited by water which has mineral salts dissolved in it. Such water forms an insoluble compound with soap, and is hence unfit for washing purposes.

To cross with lines in a peculiar manneHatching. Shall win this sword, silvered and hatched. Chapman. Those hatching strokes of the pencil. Dryden.

eing 6.4. -- Dynamical theory of heat, that theory of heat which assumes it to be, not a peculiar kind of matter, but a peculiar motion of the ultimate particles of matter. Heat engine, any apparatus by which a heated substance, as a heated fluid, is made to perform work by giving motion to mechanism, as a hot-air eng…

racterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.

A Hebrew idiom or custom; a peculiar expression or manner of speaking in the Hebrew language. Addison.

An idiom or mode of speech peculiar to the Irish. Todd.

-churchmen lay less stress on these points, and, in many instances, reject altogether the peculiar tenets of the high-church school. See Broad Church. -- High constable (Law), a chief of constabulary. See Constable, n., 2. -- High commission court,a court of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England erected and united t…

l.) an elevated region or country; as, the Highlands of Scotland. Highland fling, a dance peculiar to the Scottish Highlanders; a sort of hornpipe.

u a sign. Is. vii. 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might . . . purify unto himself a peculiar people. Titus ii. 14. With shame remembers, while himself was one Of the same herd, himself the same had done. Denham.

vreul to an oily acid which was obtained from mutton suet, and to which he attributed the peculiar taste and smell of that substance. The substance has also been called hircin. Watts.

A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark; as, a happy hit.

(b) A circumlocution for to inherit; as, to come honestly by a feature, a mental trait, a peculiarity.

To call by a shout or peculiar cry.

To make the peculiar cry of an owl. The clamorous owl that nightly hoots. Shak.

A peculiar starchy matter contained in barley. It is complex mixture. [R.]

omosa), cultivated for the beauty of its flowers; -- called also horsehoe vetch, from the peculiar shape of its pods. -- Iron horse, a locomotive. [Colloq.] -- Salt horse, the sailor's name for salt beef. -- To look a gift horse in the mouth, to examine the mouth of a horse which has been received as a gift, in order…