BODY

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.

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.

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.

A person; a human being; -- frequently in composition; as, anybody, nobody. A dry, shrewd kind of a body. W. Irving.

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.

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.

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.

Amount; quantity; extent.

That part of a garment covering the body, as distinguished from the parts covering the limbs.

The bed or box of a vehicle, on or in which the load is placed; as, a wagon body; a cart body.

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.

A figure that has length, breadth, and thickness; any solid figure.

Consistency; thickness; substance; strength; as, this color has body; wine of a good body.

Clothing for the body; esp. underclothing.

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.

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. Shak.