1. a dead body, especially of a human being rather than an animal:"the corpse of a man lay there"
Word OriginMiddle English (denoting the living body of a person or animal): alteration of corse by association with Latin corpus, a change which also took place in French (Old French cors becoming corps). The p was originally silent, as in French; the final e was rare before the 19th century, but now distinguishes corpse from corps.