different between peculiarity vs lark

English

Etymology

peculiar +? -ity

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /p??kjuli????ti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??kju?li?æ??ti/
• Rhymes: -æ??ti
• Hyphenation: pe?cu?li?ar?i?ty

Noun

peculiarity (countable and uncountable, plural peculiarities)

1. The quality or state of being peculiar; individuality; singularity.

   The peculiarity of meeting six people on a usually deserted trail only struck me later on.

2. That which is peculiar; a special and distinctive characteristic or habit; particularity.
   • 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette, Chapter 4:

     I had often heard of Miss Marchmont, and of her peculiarities (she had the character of being very eccentric), but till now had never seen her.

   • 1870, Louisa May Alcott, quoted in 2011, Daniel Shealy, Little Women Abroad: The Alcott Sisters' Letters from Europe, 1870-1871

     I thought Alice and H. J. P. would have fainted at the full spectacle; but we are fast getting used to the little peculiarities of foreigners and I trust they will forgive us many sins in return.

   • 1873, Specifications and Drawings of Patents Issued from the U.S. Patent Office

     The peculiarity of this invention consists in a means for varying the angle at which the plaiting-blade is held in the plaiter without varying the position of the entire instrument upon the sewing-machine.

3. Exclusive possession or right.

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• laverock, lavrock

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: läk, IPA^(key): /l??k/
• (General American) enPR: lärk, IPA^(key): /l??k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k

Etymology 1

From Middle English larke, laverke, from Old English l?werce, l?werce, l?uricæ, from Proto-Germanic *laiwarik?, *laiwazik? (compare dialectal West Frisian larts, Dutch leeuwerik, German Lerche), from *laiwaz (borrowed into Finnish leivo, Estonian lõo), of unknown ultimate origin with no definitive cognates outside of Germanic.

Noun

lark (plural larks)

1. Any of various small, singing passerine birds of the family Alaudidae.
2. Any of various similar-appearing birds, but usually ground-living, such as the meadowlark and titlark.
3. (by extension) One who wakes early; one who is up with the larks.

   Synonyms: early bird, early riser

   Antonym: owl

Hyponyms

• (species in Alaudidae): woodlark, skylark, magpie-lark, horned lark, sea lark, crested lark, shorelark

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

lark (third-person singular simple present larks, present participle larking, simple past and past participle larked)

1. To catch larks (type of bird).

References

• lark on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Alaudidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Alaudidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain, either

• from a northern English dialectal term lake/laik (“to play”) (around 1300, from Old Norse leika (“to play (as opposed to work)”)), with an intrusive -r- as is common in southern British dialects; or
• a shortening of skylark (1809), sailors' slang, "play roughly in the rigging of a ship", because the common European larks were proverbial for high-flying; Dutch has a similar idea in speelvogel (“playbird, a person of markedly playful nature”).

Noun

lark (plural larks)

1. A romp, frolic, some fun.
2. A prank.

Synonyms

• whim, especially in phrase on a whim, see also Thesaurus:whim

Derived terms

• on a lark

Related terms

• skylark (in verb sense "play")

Translations

Verb

lark (third-person singular simple present larks, present participle larking, simple past and past participle larked)

1. To sport, engage in harmless pranking.
   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Chapter 35,^[3]

     […] the porter at the rail-road had seen a scuffle; or when he found it was likely to bring him in as a witness, then it might not have been a scuffle, only a little larking […]

2. To frolic, engage in carefree adventure.

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “lark”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• Karl, Klar, Kral, klar