<B>peculiar galaxy,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of galaxies having highly unusual shapes. <BR> <I>Ex. Many of the peculiar galaxies look as though they were normal in shape at one time, but were subsequently distorted in appearance by some unusual event ... either a collision with another galaxy, or a gigantic explosion within the galaxy that literally blew it apart (Robert Jastrow and Malcolm H. Thompson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="peculiarity">
<B>peculiarity, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the condition of being peculiar; strange or unusual quality; oddness. <BR> <I>Ex. We noticed the peculiarity of his manner at once.</I> (SYN) strangeness, unusualness, eccentricity, singularity. <DD><B> 2. </B>some little thing or feature that is strange or odd. <BR> <I>Ex. One of his peculiarities is that his two eyes are not the same color.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a peculiar or characteristic quality. (SYN) idiosyncrasy. <DD><B> 4. </B>a distinguishing quality or feature. </DL>
<A NAME="peculiarize">
<B>peculiarize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make peculiar; set apart. </DL>
<A NAME="peculiarpeople">
<B>peculiar people,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>God's own chosen people, the Jews (in the Bible, Deuteronomy 14:2). <DD><B> 2. </B>a term applied to themselves by a number of Christian sects. </DL>
<A NAME="peculium">
<B>peculium, </B>noun, pl. <B>-lia.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Roman Law.) property that a father allowed his wife, child, or other descendant relation, or a master allowed his slave, to have for his own. <DD><B> 2. </B>a private possession or appurtenance; private property. </DL>
<A NAME="pecuniary">
<B>pecuniary, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with money. <BR> <I>Ex. I pass my whole life, miss, in turning an immense pecuniary mangle (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>in the form of money. <BR> <I>Ex. pecuniary assistance, a pecuniary gift.</I> adv. <B>pecuniarily.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pecuniosity">
<B>pecuniosity, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the state or fact of being supplied with money. <BR> <I>Ex. A Frenchman, whose beringed fingers ... betokened a certain amount of pecuniosity (G. A. MacDonnell).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pecunious">
<B>pecunious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having much money; wealthy. <BR> <I>Ex. But in very truth money is as dirt among those phenomenally pecunious New Yorkers (Archibald Forbes).</I> </DL>
<B>pedagese, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) the jargon of pedagogues; academese. <BR> <I>Ex. With what relief the pedagogues subside into pedagese! (Time).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Also, <B>pedaguese.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="pedagog">
<B>pedagog, </B>noun. =pedagogue.</DL>
<A NAME="pedagogic">
<B>pedagogic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of teachers or teaching; of pedagogy. <BR> <I>Ex. pedagogic ability, pedagogic methods.</I> adv. <B>pedagogically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pedagogical">
<B>pedagogical, </B>adjective. =pedagogic.</DL>
<A NAME="pedagogics">
<B>pedagogics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the science, art, or principles of teaching or education; pedagogy. </DL>
<A NAME="pedagogism">
<B>pedagogism</B> or <B>pedagoguism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the occupation, character, or ways of a pedagogue; system of pedagogy. </DL>
<A NAME="pedagogist">
<B>pedagogist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an expert in pedagogy or pedagogics. </DL>
<A NAME="pedagogue">
<B>pedagogue, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a teacher of children; schoolmaster. <BR> <I>Ex. The master, a dryish Scotsman whose reputation as a pedagogue derived from a book he had written (Scientific American).</I> (SYN) instructor. <DD><B> 2. </B>a dull, narrow-minded teacher; pedant. </DL>
<A NAME="pedagoguish">
<B>pedagoguish, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> characteristic of a pedagogue; pedantic. </DL>
<A NAME="pedagogy">
<B>pedagogy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or practice of teaching. <DD><B> 2. </B>the art or science of teaching. <BR> <I>Ex. The PEA [Progressive Education Association] was formed in 1919 as a protest against the humdrum, the cut and dried, the rote and recitation methods of pedagogy (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pedaguese">
<B>pedaguese, </B>noun. =pedagese.</DL>
<A NAME="pedal">
<B>pedal, </B>noun, verb, <B>-aled,</B> <B>-aling</B> or (especially British) <B>-alled,</B> <B>-alling,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a lever worked by the foot; the part on which the foot is placed to move any kind of machinery. Organs and pianos have pedals for changing the tone. The two pedals of a bicycle, pushed down one after the other, make it go. The brake pedal in an automobile is pushed toward the floor to apply the brakes. <BR> <I>Ex. As you ride [a bicycle] you push down on the pedals ... that act like spokes of the wheel (Beauchamp, Mayfield, and West). Bach had a harpsichord with two rows of keys and pedals (A. J. Hipkins).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=pedal point.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to work or use the pedals of; move by pedals. <BR> <I>Ex. He pedaled his bicycle slowly up the hill.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to work pedals. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or having to do with a pedal or pedals; consisting of pedals. <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with the foot or feet. <BR> <I>Ex. ... reverse himself laterally some 180 degrees so that his pedal extremities are towards the offending overflow (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pedalboard">
<B>pedalboard, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the keyboard or set of levers of an organ, played by the feet, and consisting of black and white keys similar in form and arrangement to the manuals, only on a larger scale. <BR> <I>Ex. The organ has two full 44-note keyboards and a 13-note pedalboard (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pedaler">
<B>pedaler, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a bicycle rider. <BR> <I>Ex. Oregon's biennial budget will include about $2.6 million for pedalers and pedestrians (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pedalfer">
<B>pedalfer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a type of soil characteristic of humid regions, which has built up under a cover of forest or high grass. It is low in calcium and humus content, rich in iron and aluminum salts. </DL>
<A NAME="pedalferic">
<B>pedalferic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or characteristic of pedalfers. </DL>
<A NAME="pedalharp">
<B>pedal harp,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a harp with seven pedals which can make each note of the scale in each octave a half note higher. </DL>
<A NAME="pedalier">
<B>pedalier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a pedal keyboard, as of an organ. <DD><B> 2. </B>a piano equipped with a pedal keyboard, for playing the bass with the feet. </DL>
<A NAME="pedalist">
<B>pedalist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person skilled in the use of the pedals, as of an organ or a bicycle. </DL>
<B>pedalo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-los.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of raft often built of two pieces separated by a paddle wheel. Pedalos are operated by pedals and used especially as a sports or pleasure craft. </DL>
<A NAME="pedalpoint">
<B>pedal point,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a tone (usually either tonic or dominant) sustained in one part (usually the bass) through various harmonies, often independent, in the other parts. <DD><B> 2. </B>the part of a piece containing this. </DL>
<A NAME="pedalpushers">
<B>pedal pushers,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a pair of close-fitting calf-length pants for women, originally for bicycle riding, but later in general use as sportswear. </DL>
<A NAME="pedant">
<B>pedant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who displays his knowledge in an unnecessary or tiresome way or who puts great stress on minor points of learning. A pedant may make a show of knowledge without knowing how to use it well. <BR> <I>Ex. A man who has been brought up among books, and is able to talk of nothing else, is ... what we call a pedant (Joseph Addison).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a dull, narrow-minded teacher or scholar. <BR> <I>Ex. He [James I] had the temper of a pedant; and with it a pedant's love of theories, and a pedant's inability to bring his theories into any relation with actual facts (Richard H. Green).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) a schoolmaster; teacher. </DL>
<A NAME="pedantic">
<B>pedantic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>displaying one's knowledge more than is necessary. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] is learned, but neither stuffy nor pedantic (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>tediously learned; scholarly in a dull and narrow way. <BR> <I>Ex. He does not ... sacrifice sense and spirit to pedantic refinements (Macaulay).</I> adv. <B>pedantically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pedantical">
<B>pedantical, </B>adjective. =pedantic.</DL>
<A NAME="pedanticism">
<B>pedanticism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a pedantic notion or expression; piece of pedantry. </DL>
<B>pedantize, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to play the pedant, display pedantry. <BR> <I>Ex. To vegetate and pedantize on the classics ... (Saturday Review).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pedantocracy">
<B>pedantocracy, </B>noun, pl. <B>-cies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> government by pedants or a pedant; system of government founded on mere book learning. </DL>
<A NAME="pedantocrat">
<B>pedantocrat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a ruler who governs on pedantic principles. </DL>
<A NAME="pedantocratic">
<B>pedantocratic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> characterized by pedantocracy. </DL>
<A NAME="pedantry">
<B>pedantry, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an unnecessary or tiresome display of knowledge. <BR> <I>Ex. At the risk of seeming to be pedantic about an art whose most despised enemy is pedantry, let's look briefly at some of the attributes of graphic humor (Harper's).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>overemphasis on rules, details, and other fine points, especially in learning. <BR> <I>Ex. Pedantry proceeds from much Reading and little Understanding (Sir Richard Steele).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a pedantic form or expression. <BR> <I>Ex. Vanderbilt tends to be impatient with legal pedantries and artificialities (Harper's).</I> </DL>
