To embezzle or fraudulently misappropriate public money or funds entrusted to one's care.
From Latin 'depeculari,' combining 'de-' with 'peculium' (money or property). Originally a legal term in Roman law describing theft of public money by an official.
Roman law had a specific crime for officials stealing public money called 'depeculation'—it shows how carefully the Romans categorized different types of theft!
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