1.
[syn: cadaver, corpse, stiff, clay, remains]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Corpse \Corpse\ (k[^o]rps), n. [OF. cors (sometimes written
corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See
Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
1. A human body in general, whether living or dead; --
sometimes contemptuously. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Note: Formerly written (after the French form) corps. See
Corps, n., 1.
[1913 Webster]
2. The dead body of a human being; -- used also Fig.
[1913 Webster]
He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it
sprung upon its feet. --D. Webster.
[1913 Webster]
Corpse candle.
(a) A thick candle formerly used at a lich wake, or the
customary watching with a corpse on the night before
its interment.
(b) A luminous appearance, resembling the flame of a
candle, sometimes seen in churchyards and other damp
places, superstitiously regarded as portending death.
Corpse gate, the gate of a burial place through which the
dead are carried, often having a covered porch; -- called
also lich gate.
[1913 Webster] Corpulence
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
corpse
n 1: the dead body of a human being; "the cadaver was intended
for dissection"; "the end of the police search was the
discovery of a corpse"; "the murderer confessed that he
threw the stiff in the river"; "honor comes to bless the
turf that wraps their clay" [syn: cadaver, corpse,
stiff, clay, remains]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
49 Moby Thesaurus words for "corpse":
ashes, barebones, bean pole, beanstalk, body, bones, broomstick,
cadaver, carcass, carrion, clay, clothes pole, corpus delicti,
crowbait, dead body, dead man, dead person, decedent, dry bones,
dust, earth, embalmed corpse, food for worms, lanky, late lamented,
mortal remains, mummification, mummy, organic remains, rattlebones,
relics, reliquiae, remains, shadow, skeleton, slim, spindlelegs,
spindleshanks, stack of bones, stiff, stilt, tenement of clay,
the dead, the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one,
twiggy, walking skeleton
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
CORPSE. The dead body (q.v.) of a human being. Russ. & Ry. 366, n.; 2 T. R.
733; 1 Leach, 497; 16 Eng. Com. L. Rep. 413; 8 Pick. 370; Dig. 47, 12, 3, 7
Id. 11, 7, 38; Code, 3, 441.
2. As a corpse is considered as nullius bonis, or the property of no
one, it follows that stealing it, is not, at common law, a larceny. 3 Inst.
203.