[id.i.om] n [MF & LL; MF idiome, fr. LL idioma individual peculiarity of language, fr. Gk idiomat-, idioma, fr. idiousthai to appropriate, fr. idios] (1588) 1 a: the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class: dialect b: the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language
2: an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (as Monday week for "the Monday a week after next Monday")
3: a style or form of artistic expression that is characteristic of an individual, a period or movement, or a medium or instrument "the modern jazz ~"; broadly: manner, style "a new culinary ~"