Peculation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Peculation \Pec`u*la"tion\, n.
     The act or practice of peculating, or of defrauding the
     public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods
     intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement;
     embezzlement.
     [1913 Webster]


  
           Every British subject . . . active in the discovery of
           peculations has been ruined.             --Burke.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  peculation
       n : the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted
           to your care but actually owned by someone else [syn: {embezzlement},
            {defalcation}, {misapplication}, {misappropriation}]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PECULATION, civil law. The unlawful appropriation by a depositary of public 
  funds, of the property of the government entrusted to his care, to his own 
  use or that of others. Domat, Suppl. au Droit Public, liv. 3, tit. 5.