Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Body

Bod′y

,
Noun.
;
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?
Shakespeare
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, any
body
, no
body
.
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
(Zool.)
,
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.

Bod′y

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Bodied
([GREEK]);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Bodying
.]
To furnish with, or as with, a body; to produce in definite shape; to embody.
To body forth
,
to give from or shape to mentally.

Imagination
bodies
forth
The forms of things unknown.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Body

BOD'Y

, n.
1.
The frame of an animal; the material substance of an animal, in distinction from the living principle of beasts, and the soul of man.
Be not anxious for your body.
2.
Matter, as opposed to spirit.
3.
A person; a human being; sometimes alone; more generally, with some or no; as, somebody; nobody.
4.
Reality, as opposed to representation.
A shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Col.2
5.
A collective mass; a number of individuals or particulars united; as the body of mankind. Christians united or the Church is called the body, of which each Christian is a member, and Christ the head. 1 Cor.12. 12.27.
6.
The main army, in distinction from the wings, van or rear. Also, any number of forces under one commander.
7.
A corporation; a number of men, united by a common tie, by one form of government, or by occupation; as the legislative body; the body of the clergy; body corporate; body politic.
8.
The main part; the bulk; as the body of a tree; the body of a coach, of a ship, &c.
9.
Any extended solid substance; matter; any substance or mass distinct from others; as a metaline body; a floating body; a moving body; a light body; a heavy body.

Definition 2024

Body

Body

See also: body

German

Noun

Body m ‎(genitive Bodys, plural Bodys)

  1. bodysuit; leotard (skin-tight, one-piece garment)

Declension

body

body

See also: Body

English

Noun

Picture dictionary
bodybody
About this image

1= head 2= face 3= neck 4= shoulder 5= chest 6= navel, belly button 7= abdomen 8= groin 9= **** 10-14= leg 15-19= arm

body ‎(countable and uncountable, plural bodies)

  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, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 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's got to do things when he's awful hungry he wouldn't want to do as a steady thing.
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
        “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.
      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 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 1
        The 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.
      We have given body to what was just a vague idea.
    3. (uncountable) Comparative viscosity, solidity or substance (in wine, colours etc.). [from 17th c.]
      The red wine, sadly, lacked body.
    4. 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 5
        Using three-dimensional seismic and well data from the northern North Sea, we describe a large (10 km3) body of sand and interpret it as extrusive.
      The English Channel is a body of water lying between Great Britain and France.
  5. (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
  6. (geometry) A three-dimensional object, such as a cube or cone.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:body
  • See also Wikisaurus:corpse

Derived terms

Look at pages starting with body.

Translations

See also

Verb

body ‎(third-person singular simple present bodies, present participle bodying, simple past and past participle bodied)

  1. To give body or shape to something.
  2. To construct the bodywork of a car.
  3. (transitive) To embody.
    • 1955, Philip Larkin, Toads
      I 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.

References

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: help · number · alone · #340: body · point · letter · become

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbodɪ/
  • Rhymes: -odɪ
  • Hyphenation: bo‧dy

Etymology 1

From English body, bodysuit.

Noun

body n (indeclinable)

  1. bodysuit, leotard

Etymology 2

Noun

body

  1. nominative plural of bod
  2. accusative plural of bod
  3. vocative plural of bod
  4. instrumental plural of bod

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

From English body.

Noun

body m ‎(plural body's, diminutive body'tje n)

  1. A leotard.
  2. Body, substance.

Finnish

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: bo‧dy
  • IPA(key): /ˈbodi/
  • IPA(key): /ˈbody/
  • Homophones: bodi

Noun

body

  1. snapsuit, diaper shirt, onesies (infant bodysuit)

Declension

Pronunciation ˈbody:

Inflection of body (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative body bodyt
genitive bodyn bodyjen
partitive bodya bodyja
illative bodyyn bodyihin
singular plural
nominative body bodyt
accusative nom. body bodyt
gen. bodyn
genitive bodyn bodyjen
partitive bodya bodyja
inessive bodyssa bodyissa
elative bodysta bodyista
illative bodyyn bodyihin
adessive bodylla bodyilla
ablative bodylta bodyilta
allative bodylle bodyille
essive bodyna bodyina
translative bodyksi bodyiksi
instructive — bodyin
abessive bodytta bodyitta
comitative — bodyineen

Italian

Noun

body m

  1. A leotard.

Scots

Noun

body ‎(plural bodies)

  1. body
  2. person, human being

Spanish

Noun

body m ‎(plural bodys or bodies)

  1. bodysuit

Etymology

Shortened from English bodysuit. Compare similar forms in other languages under body.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɔdi/

Similar Results