Bod"y (?), n.; pl.
Bodies (?). [OE. bodi, AS. bodig; akin to
OHG. botah. √257. Cf. Bodice.]
1. The material organized substance of an animal,
whether living or dead, as distinguished from the spirit, or vital
principle; the physical person.
Absent in body, but present in spirit.
1 Cor. v. 3
For of the soul the body form doth take.
For soul is form, and doth the body make.
Spenser.
2. The trunk, or main part, of a person or animal,
as distinguished from the limbs and head; the main, central, or principal
part, as of a tree, army, country, etc.
Who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together?
Shak.
The van of the king's army was led by the general; . . . in
the body was the king and the prince.
Clarendon.
Rivers that run up into the body of Italy.
Addison.
3. The real, as opposed to the symbolical; the
substance, as opposed to the shadow.
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is
of Christ.
Col. ii. 17.
4. A person; a human being; -- frequently in
composition; as, anybody, nobody.
A dry, shrewd kind of a body.
W. Irving.
5. A number of individuals spoken of collectively,
usually as united by some common tie, or as organized for some purpose; a
collective whole or totality; a corporation; as, a legislative body;
a clerical body.
A numerous body led unresistingly to the
slaughter.
Prescott.
6. A number of things or particulars embodied in a
system; a general collection; as, a great body of facts; a
body of laws or of divinity.
7. Any mass or portion of matter; any substance
distinct from others; as, a metallic body; a moving body; an
aëriform body. "A body of cold air."
Huxley.
By collision of two bodies, grind
The air attrite to fire.
Milton.
8. Amount; quantity; extent.
9. That part of a garment covering the body, as
distinguished from the parts covering the limbs.
10. The bed or box of a vehicle, on or in which the
load is placed; as, a wagon body; a cart body.
11. (Print.) The shank of a type, or the
depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated); as, a nonpareil face
on an agate body.
12. (Geom.) A figure that has length,
breadth, and thickness; any solid figure.
13. Consistency; thickness; substance; strength;
as, this color has body; wine of a good body.
☞ Colors bear a body when they are capable of being ground
so fine, and of being mixed so entirely with oil, as to seem only a very
thick oil of the same color.
After body (Naut.), the part of a ship
abaft the dead flat. -- Body cavity (Anat.),
the space between the walls of the body and the inclosed viscera; the
cælum; -- in mammals, divided by the diaphragm into thoracic and
abdominal cavities. -- Body of a church, the
nave. -- Body cloth; pl. Body
cloths, a cloth or blanket for covering horses. --
Body clothes. (pl.) 1.
Clothing for the body; esp. underclothing. 2.
Body cloths for horses. [Obs.] Addison. -- Body
coat, a gentleman's dress coat. -- Body
color (Paint.), a pigment that has consistency,
thickness, or body, in distinction from a tint or wash. --
Body of a law (Law), the main and operative
part. -- Body louse (Zoöl.), a
species of louse (Pediculus vestimenti), which sometimes infests the
human body and clothes. See Grayback. -- Body
plan (Shipbuilding), an end elevation, showing the
conbour of the sides of a ship at certain points of her length. --
Body politic, the collective body of a nation or
state as politically organized, or as exercising political functions; also,
a corporation. Wharton.
As to the persons who compose the body politic or
associate themselves, they take collectively the name of "people", or
"nation".
Bouvier.
-- Body servant, a valet. -- The
bodies seven (Alchemy), the metals corresponding to
the planets. [Obs.]
Sol gold is, and Luna silver we threpe (=call), Mars yren
(=iron), Mercurie quicksilver we clepe, Saturnus lead, and Jupiter is tin,
and Venus coper.
Chaucer.
-- Body snatcher, one who secretly removes
without right or authority a dead body from a grave, vault, etc.; a
resurrectionist. -- Body snatching (Law),
the unauthorized removal of a dead body from the grave; usually for the
purpose of dissection.