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
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
I could not understand his proceedings at all, and at the best I did not relish playing the corpus vile to his magical experiments.
From Allan's Wife by Haggard, Henry Rider
The institutions of an ancient realm are not exactly the corpus vile on which theorists hard pressed by the practical difficulties of the political situation can be allowed to try unlimited experiments.
From A Leap in the Dark A Criticism of the Principles of Home Rule as Illustrated by the Bill of 1893 by Dicey, Albert Venn
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
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.
