peculation

1. (law, chiefly historical) The wrongful appropriation or embezzlement of shared or public property, usually by a person entrusted with the guardianship of that property.Examples: "[The Chief Magistrate] might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation or oppression."; "Sir Pitt Crawley (named after the great Commoner) was the son of Walpole Crawley, first Baronet, of the Tape and Sealing-Wax Office in the reign of George II., when he was impeached for peculation, as were a great number of other honest gentlemen of those days ..."; "Bulfinch, a solicitor at Redcastle, came to him with irrefragable proofs of gross peculation on the part of the bailiff."countablehistoricaluncountable