corps
[kawr, kohr]
- Military.
- a military organization consisting of officers and enlisted personnel or of officers alone: the U.S. Marine Corps; corps of cadets.
- a military unit of ground combat forces consisting of two or more divisions and other troops.
- a group of persons associated or acting together: the diplomatic corps; the press corps.
- Printing. a Continental designation that, preceded by a number, indicates size of type in Didot points of 0.0148 inches (3.8 mm): 14 corps.
- Obsolete. corpse.
Show More
Origin of corps
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
bodydivisioncontingentcrewbanddetachmentsquadtrooptroupesquadronunitcompanyposseoutfitregimentteampartybrigadeExamples from the Web for corps
Contemporary Examples
There were now five British corps in the British sector, and five American corps in the American sector.
It was now almost impossible to speak of individual divisions in relation to these actions, but only of corps.
He was deciding whether or not he wanted to stay in the Corps.
As a Teach For America 2011 corps member, I spent the last two years teaching 5th grade at a charter school in Harlem.
The next COAS will come from the shadowy group of a dozen corps commanders who run the Army.
Historical Examples
They are the volunteers, the owner-drivers of the Corps, many of them men of wealth and title.
Ballads of a BohemianRobert W. Service
The first Maryland brigade as a corps de reserve on the road.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis MarionWilliam Dobein James
Had this corps been well trained the enemy must have been beaten.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis MarionWilliam Dobein James
There was, as well, a little excited undertalk from one corps to the other.
Camps, Quarters and Casual PlacesArchibald Forbes
They wished to have it established that their corps was not subject to the captain's authority.
The Life of Horatio Lord NelsonRobert Southey
corps
- a military formation that comprises two or more divisions and additional support arms
- a military body with a specific functionintelligence corps; medical corps
- a body of people associated togetherthe diplomatic corps
Show More
Word Origin
C18: from French, from Latin corpus body
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for corps
n.
late 13c., cors "body," from Old French cors "body, person, corpse, life" (9c.), from Latin corpus "body" (see corporeal). Sense in English evolved from "dead body" (13c.) to "live body" (14c.) to "body of citizens" (15c.) to "band of knights" (mid-15c.). The modern military sense (1704) is from French corps d'armée (16c.), picked up in English during Marlborough's campaigns.
French restored the Latin -p- in 14c., and English followed 15c., but the pronunciation remained "corse" at first and corse persisted as a parallel formation. After the -p- began to be sounded (16c. in English), corse became archaic or poetic only.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper