BODY Bod"y, n.; pl. Bodies. Etym: [OE. bodi, AS. bodig; akin to OHG. botah. sq. root257. 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 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.