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

In this respect New York differed widely from New England, where religious exclusiveness preserved the English race as a peculiar people until the middle of the nineteenth century.

From Races and Immigrants in America by Commons, John R. (John Rogers)

I saw also a faultless figure, habited in the costume of a peasant rather than of a soldier, but a peasant of a peculiar people, the Jarochos.

From The Guerilla Chief And other Tales by Reid, Mayne

Your glory is that ye are a chosen generation, an holy nation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, your bodies temples of the Holy Ghost, your souls united to the Lord Jesus Christ.

From The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Samuel by Blaikie, William Garden