CORPORAL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Corporal

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kˈɔrpərəl/ /kˈɔrprəl/ Listen

noun

Corporal n. (Mil.) A noncommissioned officer, next below a sergeant. In the United States army he is the lowest noncommissioned officer in a company of infantry. He places and relieves sentinels.

Corporal's guard, a detachment such as would be in charge of a corporal for guard duty, etc.; hence, derisively, a very small number of persons.

Lance corporal, an assistant corporal on private's pay.

Ship's corporal (Naut.), a petty officer who assists the master at arms in his various duties.

Corporale, Corporal n. A fine linen cloth, on which the sacred elements are consecrated in the eucharist, or with which they are covered; a communion cloth.

Corporal oath, a solemn oath; so called from the fact that it was the ancient usage for the party taking it to touch the corporal, or cloth that covered the consecrated elements.

adjective

Corporal adj.

Belonging or relating to the body; bodily. "Past corporal toil." "Pillories and other corporal infections."

Corporal punishment (law), punishment applied to the body of the offender, including the death penalty, whipping, and imprisonment.

Having a body or substance; not spiritual; material. In this sense now usually written corporeal. "A corporal heaven...where the stare are." "What seemed corporal melted As breath into the wind."

Synonyms: Corporal, Bodily, Corporeal. Bodily is opposed to mental; as, bodily affections. Corporeal refers to the whole physical structure or nature, of the body; as, corporeal substance or frame. Corporal, as now used, refers more to punishment or some infliction; as, corporal punishment. To speak of corporeal punishment is an error. Bodily austerities; the corporeal mold.

See images of 'Corporal'

Etymology of 'Corporal'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Corporal" Quotes from Famous Books

... spectators did not submit to this fine without a struggle. Jeremiah Banks wrote to Williamson on September 16, 1655: "At the playhouse this week many were put to rout by the soldiers and had broken crowns; the corporal would have been entrapped had he not been vigilant."[514] And in the Weekly Intelligencer, September 11-18, we read: "It never fared worse with the spectators than at this present, for those who had monies paid their five shillings apiece; those who had none, to satisfy their forfeits, ...

— Shakespearean Playhouses - A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration • Joseph Quincy Adams

... that, and I know too the difference between a Corporal and a Company Commander. I know an officer when I see him. But a brass hat don't ...

— To Him That Hath - A Novel Of The West Of Today • Ralph Connor

... is Cassidy—Corporal Terence Cassidy, of 'M' Division, Royal Northwest Mounted Police. Is ...

— The Country Beyond - A Romance of the Wilderness • James Oliver Curwood

... idea of penitentiary and the Arabs of Bombay call it "Al-Bistan" (the Garden) because the court contains a few trees and shrubs. And with them a garden always suggests an idea of Paradise. There are indeed only two efficacious forms of punishment all the world over, corporal for the poor and fines for the rich, the latter ...

— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton

... condition of the peasantry in this region compares favourably with former times, but she admits that they are still miserably overworked and underpaid. They are no longer legally obliged to submit to corporal punishment, nor can they be forced to live where they were born, and as they emigrate in large numbers, scarcity of labour has brought about slightly improved conditions for those remaining. But a man's wage is still a mark a day in summer and ...

— Home Life in Germany • Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick

More quotes...