Pl. corps. Also 8 corpse. [For history, see CORPSE. As short for corps d’armée, it is found in French before 1700, and appears to have come up in English during Marlborough’s campaigns. Here it was prob. at first pronounced like English corps, CORPSE; but before the end of the 18th c. the French pronunciation generally prevailed, and with this the Fr. spelling was retained, while for the senses with the English pronunciation the spelling corpse was established.]
† 1. The earlier spelling of CORPSE ‘body,’ in all senses of that word. Obs.
2. Mil. A division of an army, forming a tactical unit; a body of troops regularly organized; a body of men who are assigned to a special service.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 165, ¶ 5. [In a letter ‘very modishly chequered with this Modern Military Eloquence’] Our Army being divided into two Corps. Ibid. (1712), ibid., No. 289, ¶ 2. An huge Army made up of innumerable Corps, if I may use that Term.
1753. Melmoth, trans. Cicero’s Lett., XIV. xvii. (R.). I immediately returned back to join my little corps.
1755. Johnson, Corps, Corpse … 5. A body of forces.
1793. W. Roberts, Looker-on (1794), II. 382. No. 59. These little volunteer corps … have already begun to make a sensible impression.
1796. Hull Advertiser, 9 Jan., 1/4. A rescue and a riot by the rest of the corpse might possibly be the result.
1814. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., XII. 13. A corps consisting of about 12,000 rank and file of British infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and six companies of artillery.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, II. 53. He’s ordered off to join a corps, Which he had never seen before.
1859. Musketry Instr., 84. A serjeant, who does not belong to the corps of instructors of musketry.
1881. Army Act 44–5 Vict., c. 58. pt. 5. s. 190 (15). [Defines the expression ‘corps.’]
ǁ b. In Fr. phrases: corps d’armée, a main division of an army in the field, an army-corps; corps de bataille, the central part of an army drawn up for battle between the wings; corps de réserve, a reserve force kept out of the action, to give help if needed; corps volant, a body of troops intended for rapid movements. Also CORPS DE GARDE.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4044/2. His Grace … ordered the Corps de Reserve to advance.
1762. Foote, Orator, I. Wks. 1799, I. 200. If … we estimate this corps de reserve at the half only of the standing force.
1799. Piece Family Biog., II. 82. They had immediately sent a corps d’observation into the larder.
1812. Examiner, 23 Aug., 531/2. The Russian Army … consisted of five corps-d’armée, each of two divisions.
1830. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), I. 323. The apparition of a corps d’armée under the tri-coloured flag.
c. fig.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1758), I. 128. It renders them [flowers] a Sort of immortal Corps.… For, though some are continually dropping; yet … others are as continually rising, to beautify our Borders.
1822. Q. Rev., XXVII. 117. Most of us have our little corps of consolations.
3. gen. A body or company of persons associated in a common organization, or acting under a common direction. Cf. CORE sb.2
c. 1730. Burt, Lett. N. Scotl. (1818), I. 21. This corps has a kind of captain or magistrate presiding over them, whom they call constable of the cawdys.
1803. Med. Jrnl., IX. 356. The whole respectable corps of counsellors, attornies, and bailiffs.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. ix. The whole dramatic corps.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, vi. 103. Looking round … on his … ragged corps of labourers.
1882. Pebody, Eng. Journalism, xii. 87. Lord Salisbury was … one of the most brilliant of the corps of writers who made the reputation of the Saturday Review.
ǁ b. Corps diplomatique (Fr.): the body of ambassadors, attachés, etc., accredited to a particular Court or Capital; the diplomatic corps or body. In Burke = corps of Law: see CORPSE 4.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, ii. Wks. VIII. 235. All this body of old conventions, composing the vast and voluminous collection called the corps diplomatique, forms the code or statute law.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond. (ed. 3), II. 88. Making an eloquent defence of the whole corps diplomatique against the charges of ‘the honourable gentlemen on the other side of the house.’
ǁ c. Corps de ballet (Fr.): the dancers in a ballet; the company of ballet-dancers at a theater.
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Aunt Fanny. A nymph of the corps de ballet.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, xiv. The glances which all the corps-de-ballet … cast towards his box.
† 4. Spirit of (the) corps (= F. esprit de corps): see ESPRIT. In corps: in a body, collectively (F. en corps). Obs.
1767. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 135. The world greatly mistook you if they imagined you would come in [to power] otherwise than in corps. Ibid. (1796), Lett. Noble Ld., Wks. VIII. 56. When … they come to understand one another, and to act in corps.
1769. Junius Lett., xxx. 138. I am sorry to see … the spirit of the corps.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), II. 480. The spirit of corps animates them to such a degree, that [etc.].
Corps, bad obs. spelling of COURSE.
(Due to the spelling of cors, corps, as course, and consequent tendency to confound the two words.)
