Body

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈbÉ’di/
• GenAm IPA: /ˈbÉ‘di/, ˈbɑɾi
• Rhymes: -É’di
• Hyphenation: bod + y

Origin

From Middle English body, bodiȝ, from Old English bodiġ, bodeġ ("body, trunk, chest, torso, height, stature"), from Proto-Germanic *budagą, *budagaz ("body, trunk", also "grown"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- ("to be awake, observe"). Cognate with German Bottech ("body, trunk, corpse"), Bavarian and Swabian Bottich ("body, trunk").

Noun

1. Physical frame.
1. The physical structure of a human or animal seen as one single organism. from 9th c.I saw them walking from a distance, their bodies strangely angular in the dawn light.
2. The fleshly or corporeal nature of a human, as opposed to the spirit or soul. from 13th c.The body is driven by desires, but the soul is at peace.
3. A corpse. from 13th c.Her body was found at four o'clock, just two hours after the murder.
4. (archaic or informal except in compounds) A person. from 13th c.
• 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Folio Society 1973, p. 463:Indeed, if it belonged to a poor body, it would be another thing; but so great a lady, to be sure, can never want it ...
• 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Chapter 28:Sometime I've set right down and eat WITH him. But you needn't tell that. A body

• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 5, “Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.
1. What's a body gotta do to get a drink around here?
2. Main section.
1. The torso, the main structure of a human or animal frame excluding the extremities (limbs, head, tail). from 9th c.The boxer took a blow to the body.
2. The largest or most important part of anything, as distinct from its appendages or accessories. from 11th c.The bumpers and front tyres were ruined, but the body of the car was in remarkable shape.
3. (archaic) The section of a dress extending from the neck to the waist, excluding the arms. from 16th c.Penny was in the scullery, pressing the body of her new dress.
4. The content of a letter, message, or other printed or electronic document, as distinct from signatures, salutations, headers, and so on. from 17th c.
5. A bodysuit. from 19th c.
6. (programming) The code of a subroutine, contrasted to its signature and parameters. from 20th c.In many programming languages, the method body is enclosed in braces.
3. Coherent group.
1. A group of men or people having a common purpose or opinion; a mass. from 16th c.I was escorted from the building by a body of armed security guards.
2. An organisation, company or other authoritative group. from 17th c.The local train operating company is the managing body for this section of track.
3. A unified collection of details, knowledge or information. from 17th c.We have now amassed a body of evidence which points to one conclusion.
4. Material entity.
1. Any physical object or material thing. from 14th c.All bodies are held together by internal forces.
2. (uncountable) Substance; physical presence. from 17th c.
• 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1The voice had an extraordinary sadness. Pure from all body, pure from all passion, going out into the world, solitary, unanswered, breaking against rocks—so it sounded.
3. We have given body to what was just a vague idea.
4. (uncountable) Comparative viscosity, solidity or substance (in wine, colours etc.). from 17th c.The red wine, sadly, lacked body.
5. An agglomeration of some substance, especially one that would be otherwise uncountable.
• 1806 June 26, Thomas Paine, "The cause of Yellow Fever and the means of preventing it, in places not yet infected with it, addressed to the Board of Health in America", The political and miscellaneous works of Thomas Paine, page 179:In a gentle breeze, the whole body of air, as far as the breeze extends, moves at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour; in a high wind, at the rate of seventy, eighty, or an hundred miles an hour ...
• 2012 March 19, Helge Løseth, Nuno Rodrigues and Peter R. Cobbold, "World's largest extrusive body of sand?", Geology, volume 40, issue 5Using three-dimensional seismic and well data from the northern North Sea, we describe a large (10 km

1. The English Channel is a body of water lying between Great Britain and France.
1. (printing) The shank of a type, or the depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated).a nonpareil face on an agate body

Synonyms

Derived terms

Full definition of body

Verb

1. To give body or shape to something.
2. To construct the bodywork of a car.
3. (transitive) To embody.
• 1955, Philip Larkin, ToadsI don't say, one bodies the other
  One's spiritual truth;
  But I do say it's hard to lose either,
  When you have both.

Anagrams

• Boyd