Pl. corpora. [L.; = body.]
1. The body of a man or animal. (Cf. corpse.)
Formerly frequent; now only humorous or grotesque.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxiii. 430. We ar combered his corpus for to cary.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, li. (1890), 143. They came wyth the corpus, makyng gret mone.
1531. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 104. He was lothe to goe and see the ded corpus.
1709. Brit. Apollo, II. No. 19. 3/2.
| To reduce his Corpus | |
| (Now bulky as Porpus). |
1799. Piece Fam. Biogr., II. 108. They ate up his corpus, his hands and his feet.
1849. Lytton, K. Arthur, IX. xcvi. A sick polypus … Stretch’d out its claws to incorporate my corpus.
a. 1854. Villikins & his Dinah (in Mus. Bouquet, No. 452). He kissed her cold corpus a thousand times o’er.
2. Phys. A structure of a special character or function in the animal body, as corpus callosum, the transverse commissure connecting the cerebral hemispheres; so also corpora quadrigemina, striata, etc., of the brain, corpus spongiosum and corpora cavernosa of the penis, etc.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Corpus Callosum (in Anat.) is the upper Part, or Covering of a Space made by the joyning together of the right and left Side of the inward Substance of the Brain.
1851. Carpenter, Man. Phys. (1865), 581. The ganglionic matter of the Corpora Striata. Ibid. (1874), Man. Phys., App. (1879), 715. Experiments on the Corpora Quadrigemina (or Optic Ganglia).
1869. Huxley, Phys., xi. 298. The floor of the lateral ventricle is formed by a mass of nervous matter, called the corpus striatum.
3. A body or complete collection of writings or the like; the whole body of literature on any subject.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Corpus is also used in matters of learning, for several works of the same nature, collected, and bound together…. We have also a corpus of the Greek poets…. The corpus of the civil law is composed of the digest, code, and institutes.
1865. Mozley, Mirac., i. 16. Bound up inseparably with the whole corpus of Christian tradition.
1876. Gladstone, in Contemp. Rev., June, 14. Assaults on the corpus of Scripture.
1886. Athenæum, 14 Aug., 211/1. The completion of such a corpus of Oriental numismatics.
4. The body or material substance of anything; principal, as opposed to interest or income.
1844. Williams, Real Prop. (1877), 225. Not only the income, but also the corpus of any property, whether real or personal.
1884. Law Rep. 25 Chanc. Div. 711. If these costs were properly incurred they ought to be paid out of corpus and not out of income.
5. phr. Corpus delicti (see quot. 1832). Corpus juris: a body of law; esp. the body of Roman or civil law (corpus juris civilis).
1832. Austin, Jurispr. (1879), I. xxiv. 479. Corpus delicti (a phrase introduced by certain modern civilians) is a collective name for the sum or aggregate of the various ingredients which make a given fact a breach of a given law. Ibid., II. xlv. 796. The very best attempts yet made to distribute the corpus juris into parts.
1891. Fortn. Rev., Sept., 338. The translation … of the Corpus Juris into French.
† 6. By corpus bones: perh. a confusion of corpus Domini and Goddes bones: cf. also cops body! s.v. COPS2.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. Prol., 28. By corpus [2 MSS. corps] bones, but I haue triacle. Ibid., Prioress’ Prol., 1 (Harl.). ‘Wel sayd, by corpus boones [6 texts corpus dominus]!’ quod oure host. Ibid., Monk’s Prol., 18. By corpus [Harl. corpes, Petw. goddes] bones, I wol haue thy knyf.
