† 1. Habit of body; size. Obs.
c. 1477. Caxton, Jason, 12 b. Her … ladyly may[n]tiene and her noble facon and corpulence. Ibid. (c. 1489), Blanchardyn, xxiv. (1890), 82. He was of so hyghe & bygge corpulence. Ibid. (1491), Vitas Patr. (W. de W., 1495), I. i. 3 b/2. Of corpulence he was lene by his abstynence.
2. Bulk of body; over-bulkiness, obesity.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxi. (1887), 90. Running … abateth the fleshinesse, and corpulence of the body.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 483. Some of Serpent kinde, Wondrous in length and corpulence.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., III. i. 615. The dryness of the air is not favorable to corpulence in our country [U.S.].
b. concr. Corpulent persons. (nonce-use.)
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 13 Sept., 2/1. A real family boat, crowded with corpulence of both sexes.
† 3. Material quality or substance; corporeity. Obs. rare.
a. 1625. Boys, Wks. (1629), 584. His [Christs] whole body … distinct and diuers from the substance and corpulence of the wood.
