Body \Bod"y\, n.; pl. Bodies. [OE. bodi, AS. bodig; akin to OHG. botah. [root]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 a["e]riform 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.

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.

Note: 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 c[ae]lum; -- 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.)

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 (Zo["o]l.), 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)