Formerly 4–8 corps; also 6–7 corpes, Sc. corpis. [ME. corps, orig. merely a variant spelling of the earlier ME. cors (see CORSE), a. OF. (11–14th c.) cors = Pr. cors:—L. corpus body. In the 14th c. the spelling of OF. cors was perverted after L. to corps, and this fashion came also into Eng., where corps is found side by side with cors, and became gradually (by 1500) the prevalent, and at length the ordinary form, while at the same time cors, from 16th c. spelt CORSE (q.v.), has never become obsolete. In Fr. the p is a mere bad spelling, which has never affected the pronunciation. In Eng. also, at first, the p was mute, corps being only a fancy spelling of cors; but app. by the end of the 15th c. (in some parts of the country, or with some speakers) the p began to be pronounced, and this became at length the ordinary practice; though even at the present day some who write corpse pronounce corse, at least in reading. The spelling with final e, corpse (perhaps taken from the modern pl. corpses) was only a rare and casual variation before the 19th c., in which it has become the accepted form in the surviving sense 2, which is thus differentiated from CORPS, used with French pronunciation in the military sense. In Fr. cors, corps the pl. is the same as the sing.; in Eng. also the ordinary plural down to 1750 was corps, though corpses is occasional from 16th c. In the 17th c. corps meaning a single dead body was often construed as a plural = ‘remains,’ as is still the case dialectally; in Sc., corps pl. gave rise to a truncated singular corp before 1500.
Comparing the history of F. cors, corps, and that of Eng. cors, corps, corpse, we see that while mod.F. (kōr) has in pronunciation lost the final s, Eng. has not only retained it, but pronounces the p, and adds a final e mute, which is neither etymological nor phonetic, but serves to distinguish the word from the special sense spelt corps.]
† 1. The body of a man or of an animal; a (living) body; a person. Obs. (before the spelling corpse was established.)
c. 1325. Coer de L., 1954 (MS. 15th c.). And fel on knees down of his hors And badde Mercy, for Goddes corps.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 23. Þe whiles I quykke þe corps … called am I anima.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 197 (Harl.). God schilde his corps [so 3 MSS. of 6-texts, 3 cors] fro schonde.
c. 1400. Beryn, 3246. As myne owne corps [rhyme hors] I woll cherrish hym.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VI. clxxx. 177. Foure Knyghtes, whiche were called gardeyns of her corps.
1500–20. Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 94. This awfull beist … wes … Rycht strong of corpis.
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 136. I thocht my corps with cauld suld tak no harme.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Nov., 166. Her soule unbodied of the burdenous corpse [rhymes forse, remorse].
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 19. Wee often see … a faire and beautiful corps, but a fowle vgly mind.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 601. To stuff this Maw, this vast unhide-bound Corps.
1707. E. Ward, Hud. Rediv., I. x. I shov’d my bulky Corps along.
2. esp. The dead body of a man (or formerly any animal). a. with epithet dead, lifeless, etc. (now felt to be pleonastic in ordinary speech).
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 677, Cleopatras. Forth she fette This dede corps [so 5 MSS., 3 cors] and in the shryne yt shette.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, iv. 19. Vpon a deed corps to take vengeaunce soo inutyle.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 336. Filled up with dedde corpses.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 132. Enter his Chamber, view his breathlesse Corpes.
1611. Bible, Isa. xxxvii. 36. They were all dead corpses.
1788. V. Knox, Winter Even., II. VI. viii. 263. I would reanimate thy lifeless corps.
c. 1850. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 645. He is now a lifeless corpse.
b. simply. (The ordinary current sense.)
c. 1315. Shoreham, 88. At complyn hyt was y-bore To the beryynge, That noble corps of Jhesu Cryst.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 511. As in a toumbe is al the faire aboue And vnder is the corps [so 3 MSS., 2 cors, 2 cours].
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, vii. (1890), 30. She fell doune dyuerse tymes in a swoune vpon the corps.
1548–9. Mar. Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices, 24. The priest metyng the Corps at the Churche style.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., III. ii. 162. Then make a Ring about the Corpes of Cæsar.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. IX. 327. He intreated them to bury the king’s corpse.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 466. The burials of the Turks are decent. The corps is attended by the relations.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VIII. 73. The ditch … was now partly filled with arms and corpses.
† c. pl. corps = corpses. Obs.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 201. That he might over Tiber go Upon the corps that dede were Of the Romains.
1571. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 151. The entrance … was ful of heads, legs, and armes, dead corps.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. i. 43. A thousand of his people butchered: Vpon whose dead corpes there was such misuse, Such beastly, shamelesse transformation, By those Welshwomen done.
1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, II. ii. The dead corps of poor calves and sheep.
1635. Cowley, Davideis, III. 603. With thousand Corps the Ways around are strown.
1713. Addison, Cato, II. i. The corps of half her Senate Manure the fields of Thessaly.
1748. Earthquake of Peru, ii. 163. To collect and convey the Corps which could be found.
† d. pl. corps, said of a single body = ‘remains.’
1613. Browne, Brit. Past., I. iv. When as his corps are borne to be enshrin’d.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 475. Her corps were taken vp.
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 21. The corpes of the Prince were … brought to the Palace.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., VIII. i. § 5. On the same day his Corps were buried at Westminster. [Still common in Sc. and north. dial.]
e. sing. corp. Sc. and north. dial.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IX. 1544. With worschip was the corp graithit in grawe.
1858. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., vi. (ed. 18), 182. In Scotland the remains of the deceased person is called the ‘corp.’
1878. Dickinson, Cumbrld. Gloss., Corp … (north) a corpse.
Sc. Proverb, Blest is the corp that the rain rains on, Blest is the bride that the sun shines on.
† 3. Alchemy. = BODY sb. 22 a. Obs.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 85. But for to worche it sikerly Betwene the corps and the spirit, Er that the metall be parfit, In seven formes it is set Of all.
† 4. = BODY sb. 9, 17, 18: Collective whole or mass; the substance, main portion, bulk, sum; body (of law, science, etc.) Corps of Law = corpus juris. Obs. (before corpse became the usual spelling.)
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 504. I suppose … þat þo gospel of Crist be hert of þo corps of Gods lawe.
1533. More, Apology, iv. Wks. 849/2. Though the corps and bodye of the scripture be not translated vnto them in theyr mother tongue.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par., Luke v. 69 b. The summe and the corpse of all sinnes together in generall.
1586. J. Case, Praise of musicke, 32. Some ἐγκυκλοπαιδείο, the whole corpse and body of sciences.
1622. Callis, Stat. Sewers (1824), 32. There is better concord betwixt the Title and Body of my Statute, for the Corps of the Act perform as much as the Title promised.
a. 1626. Bacon, Max. & Uses Com. Law, Ep. Ded. (1630), 2. One competent and uniforme corps of law.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. xxvii. (1739), 121. The corpse of this Act is to secure the King’s Title.
† b. A body of persons. Sometimes fig. from 1, ‘body’ as opposed to ‘members.’ Obs.
1534. Sir T. More, Lett., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. xlviii. 134. Sith al Christendom is one corps.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 93. Concurring … to make up a Corps or Society.
1651. C. Cartwright, Cert. Relig., I. 62. The whole corps of Christendome.
† c. Corps politic = body politic: cf. BODY sb. 14. Obs.
1696. Phillips, Corps Politick, or Bodies Politick, are Bishops, Deans, Parsons of Churches and such-like, who have Succession in one Person only.
1721. in Bailey.
5. (corps, rarely corpse). The endowment of an office: † a. of a sheriffdom or other civil office.
1542–3. Act 34–35 Hen. VIII., c. 16 § 1. Shireffes … stande … chargeable towarde his highnes … with diuers auncient formes annexed vnto the corps of the same counties.
b. of a prebend or other ecclesiastical office. (med.L. corpus prebendæ.)
1580. App. Durh. Halm. Rolls (Surtees), 195. Manr de Rellye … being the Corps of the ix prebende, per annum, 7 li. Ibid., 200. Mannr de Holme, being parcell of the Deane his corps, per annum, 12 li.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxx. § 11. Where the corps of the profit or benefice is but one the title can be but one man’s.
1600–30. L. Hutten, Antiq. Oxford, in C. Plummer, Elizib. Oxford (1887), 83. The Parsonage thereof [Ifley] is the peculiar Corps of the Archdeaconry of Oxford.
1624. Bp. Mountagu, Invoc. Saints, 48. A Deanerie of good Corps and value.
1723. Ashmole, Antiq. Berks, I. 47. Part of this Parish is the Corpse of a Prebendal Stall in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 214. The prebends … are Bromesbury … whose Corps lies in the parish of Willesden, [etc.].
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (ed. 3), II. viii. 273. Other portions of the estates … became the corpses of various prebends.
6. Comb., as corpse-bearer, -chesting (Sc.), -hood, -sheet; corpse-like adj.; corpse-cooler U.S. (see quot.); corpse-gate (dial. -yat, -yett, etc.) = LICH-GATE; corpse-light = CORPSE-CANDLE 2; corpse-man, transl. L. ustor, one who burns corpses; corpse-plant, a name given in U.S. to Monotropa uniflora on account of its fleshy-white color; corpse-preserver U.S. = corpse-cooler; corpse-provider (slang), a doctor; corpse-quake (see quot.); corpse-reviver (U.S. slang), a kind of ‘mixed’ drink; corpse-watch (see quot.). Also CORPSE-CANDLE.
1863. Ruskin, Munera P. (1880), 136. The massy shoulders of those *corpse-bearers [the waves of the sea].
1827. Hogg, in Blackw. Mag., XXI. 71. Were you present at the *corpse-chesting?
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Corpse-cooler, a temporary coffin or shell in which a corpse is laid to delay the natural decay by exposure to an artificially cooled atmosphere.
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., *Corpse Yat, the Leich gate or Corpse gate of the archæologist.
1864. Chambers’ Encycl., s.v., A corpse-gate is very common in many parts of England.
1820. Scott, Ivanhoe, xlii. To prevent my being recognised I drew the *corpse-hood over my face. Ibid. (1801), Glenfinlas, xxxi. The *corpse-lights dance—they’re gone.
1823. Byron, Island, IV. iv. He … vanish’d like a corpse-light from a grave.
1830. Tennyson, Poems, 32. All cold, and dead, and *corpselike grown.
1862. Lytton, Str. Story, I. 349. There it was before me, corpse-like, yet not dead.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, lix. 5. Some half-shorn *corpseman.
1889. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 15 Feb., 2/4. A New York grave digger says that persons of his calling are subject to what is called *‘corpse quake.’ It attacks a digger while he is about the cemetery, the victim shaking as though suffering from a chill.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xvii. ‘Her throat’s sair misguggled and mashackered … she wears her *corpse-sheet drawn weel up to hide it.’
1845. Lingard, Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858), II. ix. 45, note. To watch the dead … is called in the north of England the lake-wake, from the Saxon licþæcce, or *corpse-watch.
