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ually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cucle of the seasons, or of the year. Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years. Burke.

A peculiar mucilaginous substance extracted from the seeds of the quince (Cydonia vulgaris), and regarded as a variety of amylose.

Damask or Damascus steel; also, the peculiar markings or "water" of such steel.

To decorate, as iron, steel, etc., with a peculiar marking or "water" produced in the process of manufacture, or with designs produced by inlaying or incrusting with another metal, as silver or gold, or by etching, etc., to damask. Damaskeening is is partly mosaic work, partly engraving, and partly carving. Ure.…

A thin layer of peculiar contractile tissue directly beneath the skin of the scrotum.

A vain fancy speculation; a reverie; a castle in the air; unfounded hope. Mrs. Lambert's little daydream was over. Thackeray.

A kind of incubus which occurs during wakefulness, attended by the peculiar pressure on the chest which characterizes nightmare. Dunglison.

t to attain a desired result by a combination of interested parties; -- applied to stock speculations and political bargains. [Slang]

degree to bishop, and has immediate charge of the cathedral and its estates. -- Dean of peculiars, a dean holding a preferment which has some peculiarity relative to spiritual superiors and the jurisdiction exercised in it. [Eng.] -- Rural dean, one having, under the bishop, the especial care and inspection of the cl…

or superficial; intricate; mysterious; not obvious; obscure; as, a deep subject or plot. Speculations high or deep. Milton. A question deep almost as the mystery of life. De Quincey. O Lord, . . . thy thought are very deep. Ps. xcii. 5.

inquent; particularly, one who fails to account for public money intrusted to his care; a peculator; a defalcator.

One who defrauds; a cheat; an embezzler; a peculator.

ve; -- a direction to cancel something which has been put in type; usually expressed by a peculiar form of d, thus: .

The act of marking, or of ascertaining and setting a limit; separation; distinction. The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable. Burke.

The system of teeth peculiar to an animal.

n, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province. Superior to Pope in Pope's own peculiar department of literature. Macaulay.

to the dermis; dermal. Underneath each nail the deep or dermic layer of the integument is peculiarly modified. Huxley. Dermic remedies (Med.), such as act through the skin.

arly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned. In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English languag…

Of or pertaining to dilettanteism; amateur; as, dilettant speculation. Carlyle.

Marking a difference; distinguishing; distinctive; characteristic. That peculiar and discriminative form of life. Johnson.