peculiar people

American  

plural noun

1. the Jews as being God's chosen people. Deuteronomy 14:2.

2. (usually initial capital letters) a name adopted by certain fundamentalist Christian sects, signifying their refusal to conform to any rule of conduct that is contrary to the letter or spirit of the Bible.

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peculiar people British  

plural noun

1. (sometimes capitals) a small sect of faith healers founded in London in 1838, having no ministers or external organization

2. the Jews considered as God's elect

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Etymology

Origin of peculiar people

First recorded in 1485–95

Example Sentences

“It’s only peculiar people like you that I want to impress.”

From BusinessWeek • Jul. 5, 2011

The problem of the Christian majority, particularly in America," says Niebuhr, "is to come to terms with the stubborn will to live of the Jews as a peculiar people, both religiously and ethnically.

From Time Magazine Archive

Frenchmen, if not, through all time, from the days of Pharamond to the present, remarkably zealous of good works, are clearly a peculiar people.

From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by School, A Sexton of the Old

The Acadians are a very peculiar people, remarkable for the simplicity of their manners and their fidelity to their employers.

From Forest Life and Forest Trees: comprising winter camp-life among the loggers, and wild-wood adventure. with Descriptions of lumbering operations on the various rivers of Maine and New Brunswick by Springer, John S.

But on the other hand, there is no Hebrew writing that is so intense in its national spirit; none which breathes and burns so deeply with the characteristic genius of "the peculiar people."

From Oriental Women by Pollard, Edward Bagby