a. (sb.) [f. L. corpore-us of the nature of body, bodily, physical (f. corpus, corpor- body) + -AL: cf. CORPOREOUS.]
A. adj.
1. Of the nature of the animal body as opposed to the spirit; physical; bodily; mortal.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 706. Corporeall shall hee [Christ] sit; and thence extend His doome on soules.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 6. How inconsistent … to couple a spiritual grace with matters of corporeal repast.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xxv. 281. Nor allowed of any manner of corporeal presence in the Sacrament.
1754. Sherlock, Disc. (1759), I. vi. 202. It was universally agreed that all that was Corporeal of Man died.
1870. H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., viii. 153. The corporeal frame of every human being … is composed of the same mineral substances.
2. Of the nature of matter; material.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. xii. § 1 (1622), 332. Of things corporeal, and incorporeall; of things liuing, and without life.
1666. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., xvii. 119. Whether … the exsuction of the Air do prove the place … to be truly empty, that is, devoid of all Corporeal Substance.
1725. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. 17th C., I. v. 164. He holds … that the Devils and the Damn’d are punish’d by a Corporeal Fire.
1788. Reid, Aristotle’s Log., i. § 2. 7. Are genera and species corporeal or incorporeal?
1864. Bowen, Logic, x. 334. Our conception of any corporeal thing must include … those obvious qualities, such as shape, color, specific gravity, texture, &c.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 533. That which is created is of necessity corporeal and visible and tangible.
3. Law. Tangible; consisting of material objects; esp. in Corporeal hereditament: see quot. 1767.
c. 1670. Hobbes, Dial. Com. Laws, 45. Some Goods are Corporeal … which may be handled, or seen; and some Incorporeal, as Priviledges, Liberties, Dignities, Offices.
1767. Blackstone, Comm., II. 17. Corporeal hereditaments consist wholly of substantial and permanent objects.
1844. Williams, Real Prop., 11. A manor, which is corporeal property.
1880. Muirhead, trans. Instit. Gaius, II. § 12. Corporeal [things] are those that are tangible, such as land, a slave, a garment, gold, silver, and other things innumerable.
b. Bodily; wherein the body is affected.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 271. Degrees of nobility … by immediate grant from the crown: either expressed in writing, by writs or letters patent, as in the creations of peers and baronets; or by corporeal investiture, as in the creation of a simple knight.
† 4. Formerly used where CORPORAL is now employed. Obs.
1722. Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. Pref. 13. Death or any corporeal punishment.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 1. Can a man really suffer corporeal pain, and have at the same time all the criteria, [etc.]?
1831. Sir W. Hamilton, Discuss. (1852), 408. He could enforce discipline by the infliction of corporeal punishment.
B. sb. pl. [= corporeal things.] Things material.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, II. II. II. vi. They [the senses] never knew ought but corporealls.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 779. We should think of Incorporeals, so as not to Confound their Natures with Corporeals.
b. Things pertaining to the human body. rare.
1826. Blackw. Mag., XX. 129/1. Of their mental powers, men … form in general a pretty fair estimate, but they are often sadly out respecting corporeals.
c. Law. Corporeal possessions.
1880. Muirhead, Gaius, II. § 14. Nor does it affect our definition that there are corporeals included in an inheritance.
