Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A robbing or embezzling.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A robbing or embezzlement.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A robbing or embezzlement.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin depeculari, past participle depeculatus, to rob. See peculate.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word depeculation.

Examples

  • Also robbery and depeculation of the public treasury or revenues is a greater crime than the robbing or defrauding of a private man, because to rob the public is to rob many at once; also the counterfeit usurpation of public ministry, the counterfeiting of public seals, or public coin, than counterfeiting of a private man's person or his seal, because the fraud thereof extendeth to the damage of many.

    Leviathan 2007

  • Also robbery and depeculation of the public treasury or revenues is a greater crime than the robbing or defrauding of a private man, because to rob the public is to rob many at once; also the counterfeit usurpation of public ministry, the counterfeiting of public seals, or public coin, than counterfeiting of a private man's person or his seal, because the fraud thereof extendeth to the damage of many.

    Leviathan, or, The matter, forme, & power of a common-wealth ecclesiasticall and civill 1651

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • An embezzling of public funds. (Luciferous Logolepsy)

    May 16, 2008