Hypertext Webster Gateway: "peculation"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
Every British subject . . . active in the discovery of
peculations has been ruined. --Burke.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (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}]
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