| 释义 |
▪ I. corpse, n.|kɔːps, kɔːs|
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 modF. |kɔr| 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 and pronounced |kɔə(r)|.]
†1. The body of a man or of an animal; a (living) body; a person. Obs. (before the spelling corpse was established.)
c1325Coer de L. 1954 (MS. 15th c.), And fel on knees down of his hors And badde Mercy, for Goddes corps. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 23 Þe whiles I quykke þe corps..called am I anima. c1386Chaucer Sir Thopas 197 (Harl.) God schilde his corps [so 3 MSS. of 6-texts, 3 cors] fro schonde. c1400Beryn 3246 As myne owne corps [rime hors] I woll cherrish hym. 1494Fabyan Chron. vi. clxxx. 177 Foure Knyghtes, whiche were called gardeyns of her corps. 1500–20Dunbar Thistle & Rose 94 This awfull beist..wes..Rycht strong of corpis. 1528Lyndesay Dreme 136, I thocht my corps with cauld suld tak no harme. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Nov. 166 Her soule unbodied of the burdenous corpse [rimes forse, remorse]. 1607T. Walkington Opt. Glass 38 Wee often see..a faire and beautifull corpes, but a foule vgly mind. 1667Milton P.L. x. 601 To stuff this Maw, this vast unhide-bound Corps. 1707E. 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).
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 677 Cleopatra, Forth she fette This dede corps [so 5 MSS., 3 cors] and in the shryne yt shette. 1490Caxton Eneydos iv. 19 Vpon a deed corps to take vengeaunce soo inutyle. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 336 Filled up with dedde corpses. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 132 Enter his Chamber, view his breathlesse Corpes. 1611Bible Isa. xxxvii. 36 They were all dead corpses. 1788V. Knox Winter Even. II. vi. viii. 263, I would reanimate thy lifeless corps. c1850Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 645 He is now a lifeless corpse.
b. simply. (The ordinary current sense.)
c1315Shoreham 88 At complyn hyt was y-bore To the beryynge, That noble corps of Jhesu Cryst. c1386Chaucer 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]. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn vii. (1890) 30 She fell doune dyuerse tymes vpon the corps. 1548–9Mar. Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices 24 The priest metyng the Corps at the Churche style. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 162 Then make a Ring about the Corpes of Cæsar. 1732T. Lediard Sethos II. ix. 327 He intreated them to bury the king's corpse. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 466 The burials of the Turks are decent. The corps is attended by the relations. 1839Thirlwall Greece VIII. 73 The ditch..was now partly filled with arms and corpses.
†c. pl. corps = corpses. Obs.
1393Gower Conf. II. 201 That he might over Tiber go Upon the corps that dede were Of the Romains. 1571Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 151 The entrance..was ful of heads, legs, and armes, dead corps. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. i. 43 A thousand of his people butchered: Vpon whose dead corpes there was such misuse..By those Welsh⁓women done. 1620Middleton Chaste Maid ii. ii, The dead corps of poor calves and sheep. 1635Cowley Davideis iii. 603 With thousand Corps the Ways around are strown. 1713Addison Cato ii. i, The corps of half her Senate Manure the fields of Thessaly. 1748Earthq. Peru ii. 163 To collect and convey the Corps which could be found.
†d. pl. corps, said of a single body = ‘remains’.
1613Browne Brit. Past. i. iv, When as his corps are borne to be enshrin'd. 1631J. Weever Anc. Funerall Mon. 475 Her corps were taken vp. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 31 The corpes of the Prince were..brought to the Palace. 1655Fuller 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.
c1470Henry Wallace ix. 1544 With worschip was the corp graithit in grawe. 1858Ramsay Remin. vi. (ed. 18) 182 In Scotland the remains of the deceased person is called the ‘corp’. 1878Dickinson 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 n. 22 a. Obs.
1393Gower 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.
a. = body n. 9, 17, 18: Collective whole or mass; the substance, main portion, bulk, or sum; body (of law, science, etc.) corps of law = corpus juris. Obs. (before corpse became the usual spelling.)
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 504, I suppose..þat þo gospel of Crist be hert of þo corps of Gods lawe. 1533More Apology iv. Wks. 849/2 Though the corps and bodye of the scripture be not translated vnto them in theyr mother tongue. 1548Udall Erasm. Par., Luke v. 69 b, The summe and the corpse of all sinnes together in generall. 1586J. Case Praise of musicke 32 Some ἐγκυκλοπαιδείο, the whole corpse and body of sciences. 1622Callis 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. a1626Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law Ep. Ded. (1630) 2 One competent and uniforme corps of law. 1651N. 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.
1534Sir T. More Let. in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. xlviii. 134 Sith al Christendom is one corps. 1641Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 93 Concurring..to make up a Corps or Society. 1651C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. i. 62 The whole corps of Christendome.
†c. corps politic = body politic: cf. body n. 14. Obs.
1696Phillips, Corps Politick, or Bodies Politick, are Bishops, Deans, Parsons of Churches and such-like, who have Succession in one Person only. 1721in Bailey.
5. (corps, rarely corpse). The endowment of an office:
†a. of a sheriffdom or other civil office.
1542–3Act 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.)
1580App. 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. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxx. §11 Where the corps of the profit or benefice is but one the title can be but one man's. 1600–30L. Hutten Antiq. Oxford in Plummer Elizab. Oxf. (1887) 83 The Parsonage thereof [Ifley] is the peculiar Corps of the Archdeaconry of Oxford. 1624Bp. R. Montagu Invoc. Saints 48 A Deanerie of good Corps and value. 1723Ashmole Antiq. Berks I. 47 Part of this Parish is the Corpse of a Prebendal Stall in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln. 1766Entick London IV. 214 The prebends..are Bromesbury..whose Corps lies in the parish of Willesden, etc. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 3) II. viii. 273 Other portions of the estates..became the corpses of various prebends.
6. Comb., as corpse-bearer, corpse-body, corpse-chesting (Sc.), corpse-city, corpse-climate, corpse-hood, corpse-sheet, corpse-stealer, corpse-worm; corpse-cold, corpse-defiling, corpse-encumbered, corpse-fed, corpse-like, corpse-pale, corpse-strewn adjs.; corpse-cooler U.S. (see quot.); corpse-factory slang, a place where many people are slaughtered; also fig.; corpse-fetch [fetch n.2]; 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 colour; 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; now esp. a pick-me-up for a hangover; corpse-watch (see quot.). Also corpse candle.
1863Ruskin Munera P. (1880) 136 The massy shoulders of those *corpse-bearers [the waves of the sea].
1930D. H. Lawrence Nettles 24 Trot, trot, trot, *corpse-body, to work. Chew, chew, chew, corpse-body, at the meal.
1827Hogg in Blackw. Mag. XXI. 71 Were you present at the *corpse-chesting?
1946S. Spender Europ. Witness 22 This putrescent *corpse-city was the hub of the Rhineland.
1866G. Meredith Vittoria I. vii. 88 Then down, and along a passage; lower down, deep into *corpse-climate.
1903Hardy Dynasts I. i. iii. 22 One task Is theirs who would inter this *corpse-cold Act.
1874Knight 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.
1939R. Campbell Flowering Rifle ii. 46 *Corpse-defiling anarchists.
1878Swinburne Poems, White Czar 191 Till the wind gave his warriors and their might To shipwreck and the *corpse-encumbered sea.
1919Downing Digger Dial. 18 *Corpse factory, the Western Front. 1937W. B. Yeats Let. 27 Jan. (1954) 879, I think professional musicians have a corpse-factory, mankind melted down and poured out of a bottle.
1890Kipling Barrack-room Ballads (1892) 140 To the cod and the *corpse-fed conger-eel.
1914Masefield Philip the King 17 You *corpse-fetch from the unclean grave, begone!
1855Robinson Whitby Gloss., *Corpse Yat, the Leich gate or Corpse gate of the archæologist. 1864Chambers's Encycl. s.v., A corpse-gate is very common in many parts of England.
1820Scott Ivanhoe xlii, To prevent my being recognised I drew the *corpse-hood over my face.
1801― Glenfinlas xxxi, The *corpse-lights dance—they're gone. 1823Byron Island iv. iv, He..vanish'd like a corpse-light from a grave.
1830Tennyson Poems 32 All cold, and dead, and *corpselike grown. 1862Lytton Str. Story I. 349 There it was before me, corpse-like, yet not dead.
1871R. Ellis Catullus lix. 5 Some half-shorn *corpseman.
1929D. H. Lawrence Pansies 32 You are all going dead and *corpse-pale.
1889Boston (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.
1871Birmingham Daily Post 22 Dec., And our American refreshment bars, In drinks of all descriptions cut a dash, From *corpse revivers down to ‘brandy smash’. 1937M. Allingham Case of Late Pig xvii. 125 Pig was dressed, but he wanted a corpse-reviver. 1966‘A. Blaisdell’ Date with Death xi. 144 Corpse Reviver Number Three... You take a jigger of Pernod and add some lemon juice and ice cubes and fill the glass with champagne.
1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, ‘Her throat's sair misguggled and mashackered..she wears her *corpse-sheet drawn weel up to hide it.’
1864Bagehot Coll. Wks. (1965) II. 303 Sterne's grave..was so..neglected that the *corpse-stealers ventured to open it.
1905Westm. Gaz. 6 June 1/3 After an impressive pause he rose from the *corpse-strewn stage.
1844Lingard 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 licwæcce, or *corpse-watch.
1940Empson Gathering Storm 21 Your eyes are *corpse-worms.
▪ II. corpse, v. slang.|kɔːps|
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To make a corpse of, to kill. vulgar.
1884Gd. Words June 400/1 [His] attempt to ‘corpse’ a policeman. 1884N. & 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.
1873Slang Dict., Corpse, to stick fast in the dialogue; to confuse or put out the actors by making a mistake. 1886Cornh. 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.
Add:[2.] b. intr. Of an actor: to forget one's lines; = dry v. 2 d; to spoil one's performance by being confused or made to laugh by one's colleagues.
1874Hotten Slang Dict., Corpse, to stick fast in the dialogue. 1958News Chron. 23 May 4/7 There's a new word, too, from drama school. When anyone forgot their lines in the past they had dried. Today, they have ‘corpsed’. 1972A. Bennett Getting On i. 32 Mrs Brodribb: When Max—. Geoff: Max (He corpses). Mrs Brodribb: (silencing him with a look)—pauses by your doorstep he is not just relieving himself. He is leaving a message. 1987Observer 8 Feb. 11/2 Gambon said his dying line (‘Oh, I am slain’) in the mode of a different theatrical grandee every night..—a display of ‘suicidal nerve’, all to get his co-actor to corpse in the dark. |