corpus vile
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of corpus vile
literally: worthless body
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even the student body was regarded not as boys and girls to be taught, but as a corpus vile, a collection of human guinea pigs tolerated for experimental purposes.
From Time Magazine Archive
During his minority he has lain entirely at their mercy: has been their butt, their martyr, their drudge, their corpus vile.
From Pagan Papers by Grahame, Kenneth
I myself, to take a corpus vile, am very certain that I would not read the works of Comte through for any consideration whatever.
From Heretics by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
No good book ought ever to be considered a mere corpus vile for rhetorical praxis.
From College Teaching Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College by Klapper, Paul
Australia is the corpus vile on which England makes her legislative experiments.
From Town Life in Australia by Twopeny, Richard Ernest Nowell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
