corps

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See also: Corps

English

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Etymology 1

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From French corps d’armée (literally army body), from Latin corpus (body). Doublet of corpse and corpus. See also English riff.

Pronunciation

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singular
plural

Noun

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corps (plural corps)

  1. (military) A battlefield formation composed of two or more divisions.
  2. An organized group of people united by a common purpose.
    diplomatic corps
    White House press corps
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Noun

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corps (plural corps)

  1. A corps de ballet.
    • 1981 December 12, David Foushee, “Pushing the Edges”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 21, page 6:
      The performers were all creditable dancers as well as comedians [] even the largest of them cavorted about en pointe with wonderful ease, and the corps work was extremely precise in its inaccuracies.

Etymology 3

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Clipping.

Noun

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corps

  1. plural of corp

Etymology 4

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Noun

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corps (plural corpses)

  1. Obsolete spelling of corpse..
    • 1658, Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall, or, A Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes Lately Found in Norfolk [], London: [] Hen. Brome [], page 16:
      How to keep the corps ſeven dayes from corruption by anointing and waſhing, without exenteration, were an hazardable peece of art, in our choiſeſt practiſe.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC, lines 597–601:
      To mee, who with eternal Famin pine, / Alike is Hell, or Paradiſe, or Heaven, / There beſt, where moſt with ravin I may meet; / Which here, though plenteous, all too little ſeems / To ſtuff this Maw, this vaſt unhide-bound Corps.
    • 1788, [Vicesimus Knox], Winter Evenings: or, Lucubrations on Life and Letters, volume II, Dublin: [] Messrs. Chamberlaine, Moncrieffe, White, [], page 70:
      Did I poſſeſs the power of reſuſcitation, I would reanimate thy lifeleſs corps, and cheriſh thee in the warmeſt corner of thy favourite dwelling-place.
    • 1818, John Palmer, Journal of Travels in the United States of North America, and in Lower Canada, Performed in the Year 1817: [], London: [] Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, [], page 92:
      The women looked like dead bodies; and never did I see such a sepulchral appearance as their dress and colourless faces exhibited, they were all dressed alike in drab gowns, white neck kerchiefs, and a cap fitting close over their ears, and fastened under the chin, the same sort as are placed on a corps.

Anagrams

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Bourguignon

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Etymology

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From Latin corpus.

Noun

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corps m (plural corps)

  1. body

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French corps, from Middle French cors, from Old French cors, from Latin corpus. Doublet of corpus.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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corps n (plural corpsen or corpora, diminutive corpsje n)

  1. (chiefly Netherlands) student society, especially a traditional and hierarchical one
  2. Superseded spelling of korps.

Usage notes

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Traditional student societies tend to prescribe the plural corpora, in regular language the plural corpsen is more common.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French cors, from Old French cors, inherited from Latin corpus (body). The p was added back to reflect the Latin etymology. Doublet of corpus.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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corps m (plural corps)

  1. body
  2. (mathematics) field (in abstract algebra)
  3. (military) corps

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Karipúna Creole French:
  • Danish: korps
  • English: corps
  • Dutch: corps, korps
  • German: Korps
  • Norwegian Bokmål: korps
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: korps
  • Romanian: corp (in part)
  • Swedish: kår

Further reading

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Anagrams

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