Adjacent Words

Carcass definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CARCASS, n.
1. The body of an animal; usually the body when dead. It is not applied to the living body of the human species, except in low or ludicrous language.
2. The decaying remains of a bulky thing, as of a boat or ship.
3. The frame or main parts of a thing, unfinished or without ornament. This seems to be the primary sense of the word. [See the next word.]
CARCASS, n. An iron case or hollow vessel, about the size of a bomb, of an oval figure, filled with combustible and other substances, as meal-powder, salt-peter, sulphur, broken glass, turpentine, etc., to be thrown from a mortar into a town, to set fire to buildings. It has two or three apertures, from which the fire blazes, and the light sometimes serves as a direction in throwing shells. It is equipped with pistol-barrels, loaded with powder to the muzzle, which explode as the composition burns down to them. This instrument is probably named from the ribs of iron that form it, which resemble the ribs of a human carcass.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the dead body of an animal especially one slaughtered and dressed for food [syn: carcase, carcass]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English carcays, from Anglo-French carcas, carkeis Date: 14th century 1. a dead body ; corpse; especially the dressed body of a meat animal 2. the living, material, or physical body <I hauled my carcass out of bed> 3. the decaying or worthless remains of a structure <the carcass of an abandoned automobile> 4. the underlying structure or frame of something (as of a piece of furniture)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (also carcase) 1 the dead body of an animal, esp. a trunk for cutting up as meat. 2 the bones of a cooked bird. 3 derog. the human body, living or dead. 4 the skeleton, framework of a building, ship, etc. 5 worthless remains. Phrases and idioms: carcass meat raw meat, not preserved. Etymology: ME f. AF carcois (OF charcois) & f. F carcasse: ult. orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Carcass Car"cass (k[aum]r"kas), n.; pl. Carcasses. [Written also carcase.] [F. carcasse, fr. It. carcassa, fr. L. caro flesh + capsa chest, box, case. Cf. Carnal, Case a sheath.] 1. A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast. He turned to see the carcass of the lion. --Judges xiv. 8. This kept thousands in the town whose carcasses went into the great pits by cartloads. --De Foe. 2. The living body; -- now commonly used in contempt or ridicule. ``To pamper his own carcass.'' --South. Lovely her face; was ne'er so fair a creature. For earthly carcass had a heavenly feature. --Oldham. 3. The abandoned and decaying remains of some bulky and once comely thing, as a ship; the skeleton, or the uncovered or unfinished frame, of a thing. A rotten carcass of a boat. --Shak. 4. (Mil.) A hollow case or shell, filled with combustibles, to be thrown from a mortar or howitzer, to set fire to buldings, ships, etc. A discharge of carcasses and bombshells. --W. Iving.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(carcasses) Note: in BRIT, also use 'carcase' A carcass is the body of a dead animal. A cluster of vultures crouched on the carcass of a dead buffalo... N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Dead body (of an animal), corpse, corse. 2. Body (in contempt or ridicule). 3. Mere framework.

Moby Thesaurus

aerial bomb, anatomy, antipersonnel bomb, appendicular skeleton, ashes, axial skeleton, body, bomb, bombshell, bones, cadaver, carrion, clay, clod, concussion grenade, corpse, corpus, corpus delicti, crowbait, dead body, dead man, dead person, decedent, depth bomb, depth charge, dry bones, dust, earth, embalmed corpse, exoskeleton, figure, fire bomb, flesh, food for worms, form, frame, gas grenade, grenade, hand grenade, hulk, incendiary bomb, incendiary grenade, infernal machine, late lamented, material body, mere wreck, mortal remains, mummification, mummy, nervous wreck, organic remains, person, petard, physical body, physique, rattletrap, relics, reliquiae, remains, ruin, ruins, skeleton, soma, stiff, tear-gas grenade, tenement of clay, the dead, the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one, time bomb, torso, trunk, wall grenade, wreck