slang. [f. prec. sb.]
1. trans. To make a corpse of, to kill. vulgar.
1884. Gd. Words, June, 400/1. [His] attempt to ‘corpse’ a policeman.
1884. N. & Q., Ser. VI. IX. 120/2. To corpse. This is one of many customary and coarse ways of menacing the infliction of death. It is horribly familiar in London.
2. Actors’ slang. To confuse or ‘put out’ (an actor) in the performance of his part; to spoil (a scene or piece of acting) by some blunder.
1873. Slang Dict., Corpse, to stick fast in the dialogue; to confuse or put out the actors by making a mistake.
1886. Cornh. Mag., Oct., 436 (Farmer). He [an actor] expressed a hope that Miss Tudor ‘wouldn’t corpse his business’ over the forge-door again that evening.
