carcass

or car·case

[ kahr-kuhs ]

noun

1. the dead body of an animal.
2. Slang. the body of a human being, whether living or dead.
3. the body of a slaughtered animal after removal of the offal.
4. anything from which life and power are gone:

   The mining town, now a mere carcass, is a reminder of a past era.

5. an unfinished framework or skeleton, as of a house or ship.
6. the body of a furniture piece designed for storage, as a chest of drawers or wardrobe, without the drawers, doors, hardware, etc.
7. the inner body of a pneumatic tire, resisting by its tensile strength the pressure of the air within the tire, and protected by the tread and other parts.

verb (used with object)

1. to erect the framework for (a building, ship, etc.).

carcass

/ ˈkɑːkəs /

noun

1. the dead body of an animal, esp one that has been slaughtered for food, with the head, limbs, and entrails removed
2. informal.
   a person's body
3. the skeleton or framework of a structure
4. the remains of anything when its life or vitality is gone; shell

Other Words From

• carcass·less adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of carcass¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; from Middle French carcasse, from Italian carcassa; replacing Middle English carkeis, carkois, from Anglo-French, corresponding to Medieval Latin carcosium; ultimately origin obscure

Word History and Origins

Origin of carcass¹

C14: from Old French carcasse, of obscure origin

Synonym Study

See body.

Example Sentences

If the thalattosaur was a carcass when the ichthyosaur found it, the prey’s limbs would have rotted off before its tail did, the team argues.

From Science News For Students

Botswana first discovered carcasses of elephants along the wildlife rich Okavango Delta in May and June but was authorities were uncertain as to the cause of the mass deaths, leaving scientists and conservationists puzzled.

From Quartz

Their carcasses took a day or longer to pass through the frogs.

From Science News For Students

“The mining space is littered with the carcasses of failed mining efforts,” Silbert acknowledges.

From Fortune

None of these immobilized beetles survived, and their carcasses took a day or longer to pass through the frogs.

From Science News

Jeb next found himself as an advisor to Barclays, which had picked through the carcass of what was left of Lehman.

From The Daily Beast

I like to get the soup going using the turkey bones and carcass.

From The Daily Beast

Once the bee dies, maggots eat the carcass, turn into zombie flies, and buzz off in search of their next host.

From The Daily Beast

In hunting groups of fewer than 10 people, the average carcass weight per hunter without dogs was 8.4 kilograms per day.

From The Daily Beast

His quartered carcass was impaled above other London city gates.

From The Daily Beast

Then he just kept triggering until the gun was emptied and he had put five slugs fatally into Big Sid's carcass.

From Project Gutenberg

In making tires, the strips of fabric are built together about a steel core to form the body or carcass of the tire.

From Project Gutenberg

That white Injun beside you will be one of the first to stick burning splinters into your carcass.

From Project Gutenberg

Uncle Will and Phil set to work to cut up the carcass, first removing the hide, which the former wished to preserve.

From Project Gutenberg

A practical-minded man, he preferred to owe the safety of his carcass to his rival rather than have it impaled on Apache lances.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• frame
• framework
• hulk
• skeleton
• structure