1.  The material organized substance of an animal, whether living or dead, as distinguished from the spirit, or vital principle; the physical person. [1913 Webster]
"Absent in body, but present in spirit." [1913 Webster]
"For of the soul the body form doth take.
For soul is form, and doth the body make." [1913 Webster]

2.  The trunk, or main part, of a person or animal, as distinguished from the limbs and head; the main, central, or principal part, as of a tree, army, country, etc. [1913 Webster]
"Who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together?" [1913 Webster]
"The van of the king's army was led by the general; . . . in the body was the king and the prince." [1913 Webster]
"Rivers that run up into the body of Italy." [1913 Webster]
"As to the persons who compose the body politic or associate themselves, they take collectively the name of “people”, or “nation”." [1913 Webster]
"Sol gold is, and Luna silver we threpe (=call), Mars yren (=iron), Mercurie quicksilver we clepe, Saturnus lead, and Jupiter is tin, and Venus coper." [1913 Webster]

3.  The real, as opposed to the symbolical; the substance, as opposed to the shadow. [1913 Webster]
"Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." [1913 Webster]

4.  A person; a human being; -- frequently in composition; as, anybody, nobody. [1913 Webster]
"A dry, shrewd kind of a body." [1913 Webster]

5.  A number of individuals spoken of collectively, usually as united by some common tie, or as organized for some purpose; a collective whole or totality; a corporation; as, a legislative body; a clerical body. [1913 Webster]
"A numerous body led unresistingly to the slaughter." [1913 Webster]

6.  A number of things or particulars embodied in a system; a general collection; as, a great body of facts; a body of laws or of divinity. [1913 Webster]

7.  Any mass or portion of matter; any substance distinct from others; as, a metallic body; a moving body; an aëriform body. Huxley. [1913 Webster]
"By collision of two bodies, grind
The air attrite to fire." [1913 Webster]

8.  Amount; quantity; extent. [1913 Webster]

9.  That part of a garment covering the body, as distinguished from the parts covering the limbs. [1913 Webster]

10.  The bed or box of a vehicle, on or in which the load is placed; as, a wagon body; a cart body. [1913 Webster]

11.  The shank of a type, or the depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated); as, a nonpareil face on an agate body. [1913 Webster]

12.  A figure that has length, breadth, and thickness; any solid figure. [1913 Webster]

13.  Consistency; thickness; substance; strength; as, this color has body; wine of a good body. [1913 Webster]
" Colors bear a body when they are capable of being ground so fine, and of being mixed so entirely with oil, as to seem only a very thick oil of the same color." [1913 Webster]

14.  The central, longitudinal framework of a flying machine, to which are attached the planes or aërocurves, passenger accommodations, controlling and propelling apparatus, fuel tanks, etc. Also called fuselage. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   To furnish with, or as with, a body; to produce in definite shape; to embody. [1913 Webster]
"Imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown." [1913 Webster]

body, n. & v.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 the physical structure, including the bones, flesh, and organs, of a person or an animal, whether dead or alive.
2 the trunk apart from the head and the limbs.
3 a the main or central part of a thing (body of the car; body of the attack). b the bulk or majority; the aggregate (body of opinion).
4 a a group of persons regarded collectively, esp. as having a corporate function (governing body). b (usu. foll. by of) a collection (body of facts).
5 a quantity (body of water).
6 a piece of matter (heavenly body).
7 colloq. a person.
8 a full or substantial quality of flavour, tone, etc., e.g. in wine, musical sounds, etc.
--v.tr. (-ies, -ied) (usu. foll. by forth) give body or substance to.

Idiom:
body-blow a severe setback. body-building the practice of strengthening the body, esp. shaping and enlarging the muscles, by exercise. body-colour an opaque pigment. body language the process of communicating through conscious or unconscious gestures and poses. body-line bowling Cricket persistent fast bowling on the leg side threatening the batsman's body. body odour the smell of the human body, esp. when unpleasant. body politic the nation or State as a corporate body. body scanner a scanning X-ray machine for taking tomograms of the whole body. body shop a workshop where repairs to the bodywork of vehicles are carried out. body stocking a woman's undergarment, usually made of knitted nylon, which covers the torso. body warmer a sleeveless quilted or padded jacket worn as an outdoor garment. in a body all together. keep body and soul together keep alive, esp. barely. over my dead body colloq. entirely without my assent.

Derivative:
-bodied adj. (in comb.) (able-bodied).

Etymology:
OE bodig, of unkn. orig.

N  substantiality, hypostasis, person, being, thing, object, article, item, something, a being, an existence, creature, body, substance, flesh and blood, stuff, substratum, matter, corporeity, element, essential nature, groundwork, materiality, substantialness, vital part, world, plenum, substantive, substantial, hypostatic, personal, bodily, tangible, corporeal, substantially, bodily, essentially.

N  whole, totality, integrity, totalness, entirety, ensemble, collectiveness, unity, completeness, indivisibility, indiscerptibility, integration, embodiment, integer, all, the whole, total, aggregate, one and all, gross amount, sum, sum total, tout ensemble, length and breadth of, Alpha and Omega, be all and end all, complex, complexus, lock stock and barrel, bulk, mass, lump, tissue, staple, body, compages, trunk, torso, bole, hull, hulk, skeleton greater part, major part, best part, principal part, main part, essential part, lion's share, Benjamin's mess, the long and the short, nearly, all, almost all, whole, total, integral, entire, complete, one, individual, unbroken, intact, uncut, undivided, unsevered, unclipped, uncropped, unshorn, seamless, undiminished, undemolished, undissolved, undestroyed, unbruised, indivisible, indissoluble, indissolvable, indiscerptible, wholesale, sweeping, comprehensive, wholly, altogether, totally, entirely, all, all in all, as a whole, wholesale, in a body, collectively, all put together, in the aggregate, in the lump, in the mass, in the gross, in the main, in the long run, en masse, as a body, on the whole, bodily, en bloc, in extenso, throughout, every inch, substantially, tout bien ou rien.

N  assemblage, collection, collocation, colligation, compilation, levy, gathering, ingathering, muster, attroupement, team, concourse, conflux, congregation, contesseration, convergence, meeting, levee, reunion, drawing room, at home, conversazione, assembly, congress, convention, conventicle, gemote, conclave, posse, posse comitatus, Noah's ark, miscellany, collectanea, museum, menagerie, museology, crowd, throng, group, flood, rush, deluge, rabble, mob, press, crush, cohue, horde, body, tribe, crew, gang, knot, squad, band, party, swarm, shoal, school, covey, flock, herd, drove, atajo, bunch, drive, force, mulada, remuda, roundup, array, bevy, galaxy, corps, company, troop, troupe, task force, army, regiment, host, populousness, clan, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority, association, volley, shower, storm, cloud, group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil, set, batch, lot, pack, budget, assortment, bunch, parcel, packet, package, bundle, fascine, fasces, bale, seron, seroon, fagot, wisp, truss, tuft, shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, haycock, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook, accumulation, congeries, heap, lump, pile, rouleau, tissue, mass, pyramid, bing, drift, snowball, snowdrift, acervation, cumulation, glomeration, agglomeration, conglobation, conglomeration, conglomerate, coacervate, coacervation, coagmentation, aggregation, concentration, congestion, omnium gaterum, spicilegium, black hole of Calcutta, quantity, collector, gatherer, whip, whipper in, assembled, closely packed, dense, serried, crowded to suffocation, teeming, swarming, populous, as thick as hops, all of a heap, fasciculated cumulative, the plot thickens, acervatim, tibi seris tibi metis.

N  party, faction, side, denomination, communion, set, crew, band, horde, posse, phalanx, family, clan, team, tong, council, community, body, fellowship, sodality, solidarity, confraternity, familistere, familistery, brotherhood, sisterhood, knot, gang, clique, ring, circle, group, crowd, in-crowd, coterie, club, casino, machine, Tammany, Tammany Hall, corporation, corporate body, guild, establishment, company, copartnership, partnership, firm, house, joint concern, joint-stock company, cahoot, combine, trust, society, association, institute, institution, union, trades union, league, syndicate, alliance, Verein, Bund, Zollverein, combination, Turnverein, league offensive and defensive, alliance offensive and defensive, coalition, federation, confederation, confederacy, junto, cabal, camarilla, camorra, brigue, freemasonry, party spirit, Confederates, Conservatives, Democrats, Federalists, Federals, Freemason, Knight Templar, Kuklux, Kuklux Klan, KKK, Liberals, Luddites, Republicans, Socialists, Tories, Whigs staff, dramatis personae, in league, in partnership, in alliance, bonded together, banded together, linked, joined together, embattled, confederated, federative, joint, hand in hand, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, en masse, in the same boat.

N  materiality, materialness, corporeity, corporality, substantiality, substantialness, flesh and blood, plenum, physical condition, matter, body, substance, brute matter, stuff, element, principle, parenchyma, material, substratum, hyle, corpus, pabulum, frame, object, article, thing, something, still life, stocks and stones, materials, physics, somatology, somatics, natural philosophy, experimental philosophy, physicism, physical science, philosophie positive, materialism, materialist, physicist, somatism, somatist, material, bodily, corporeal, corporal, physical, somatic, somatoscopic, sensible, tangible, ponderable, palpable, substantial, objective, impersonal, nonsubjective, neuter, unspiritual, materialistic.

N  man, mankind, human race, human species, human kind, human nature, humanity, mortality, flesh, generation, anthropology, anthropogeny, anthropography, anthroposophy, ethnology, ethnography, humanitarian, human being, person, personage, individual, creature, fellow creature, mortal, body, somebody, one, such a one, some one, soul, living soul, earthling, party, head, hand, dramatis personae, quidam, people, persons, folk, public, society, world, community, community at large, general public, nation, nationality, state, realm, commonweal, commonwealth, republic, body politic, million, population, tribe, clan (paternity), family (consanguinity), cosmopolite, lords of the creation, ourselves, human, mortal, personal, individual, national, civic, public, social, cosmopolitan, anthropoid, am I not a man and a brother?.

acetone body, acute inclusion body encephalitis, administrative body, adult body, adult female body, adult male body, basal body temperature, basal body temperature method, basal body temperature method of family planning, black body, body and soul, body armor, body armour, body bag, body build, body count, body covering, body english, body fluid, body forth, body guard, body hair, body language, body length, body lotion, body louse, body odor, body odour, body of water, body of work, body pad, body part, body plethysmograph, body politic, body process, body servant, body shop, body snatcher, body stocking, body structure, body substance, body suit, body temperature, body type, body waste, body weight, cancer body, carotid body, celestial body, central body, child's body, ciliary body, complex body part, dead body, estraterrestrial body, external body part, female body, fruiting body, geniculate body, golgi body, governing body, heavenly body, human body, inclusion body, inclusion body encephalitis, inclusion body myositis, juvenile body, ketone body, lateral geniculate body, liquid body substance, live body, male body, malpighian body, mamillary body, mammillary body, man's body, material body, medial geniculate body, physical body, pineal body, pituitary body, platonic body, polar body, russell's body, solid body substance, striate body, subacute inclusion body encephalitis, torpedo body, vitreous body, woman's body