CORPSE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Corpse

Translators

Dictionaries

Courses

Other

Home

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kɔrps/ Listen

noun

Corpse n.

A human body in general, whether living or dead; sometimes contemptuously. (Obs.) Note: Formerly written (after the French form) corps. See Corps, n., 1.

The dead body of a human being; used also Fig. "He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet."

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.

See images of 'Corpse'

Etymology of 'Corpse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Corpse" Quotes from Famous Books

... naebody will miss me. I am sick, and there are none to haud my head. My throat is parched and my lips dry, and there are none to bring me a cup o' water. There is nae living thing that I can ca' mine. And some day I shall be found a stiffened corpse in my bed, with no one near me to close my eyes in death or perform the last office of humanity! For I am alone—I am by myself—I am forgotten in the world; and my latter years, if I have a long life, will be a burden ...

— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume VI • Various

... his place. The hand with the revolver had slowly sunk, and hung down limply. His glance wandered from the corpse to the boundary line at his feet. He had not stepped over it. Everything ...

— 'Jena' or 'Sedan'? • Franz Beyerlein

... lies (death's too rich prize) the corpse interr'd Of Joshua Sylvester Du Bartas Pier; A man of arts best parts, to God, man, dear; In foremost rank ...

— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Volume I. • Theophilus Cibber

... are to think 'e'll be a corpse some day," she chirped cheerily to herself, "tho' of course bein' a great swell in 'is own place, 'e'll 'ave a nice airy vault, which 'ud be far more comfortable than a close, stuffy grave, even tho' it 'as a tombstone an' vi'lets over it. Ah, now! Who are ...

— The Mystery of a Hansom Cab • Fergus Hume

... a flower sweet, On my black coffin let there be strown: Not a friend, not a friend greet My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown. A thousand thousand sighs to save, lay me O where Sad true lover never find ...

— Books for Children - The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 3 • Charles and Mary Lamb

More quotes...