Car·cass n.; pl. Carcasses [Written also carcase.]
1. A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast.
He turned to see the carcass of the lion. --Judges xiv. 8.
This kept thousands in the town whose carcasses went into the great pits by cartloads. --De Foe.
2. The living body; -- now commonly used in contempt or ridicule. “To pamper his own carcass.”
Lovely her face; was ne'er so fair a creature.
For earthly carcass had a heavenly feature. --Oldham.
3. The abandoned and decaying remains of some bulky and once comely thing, as a ship; the skeleton, or the uncovered or unfinished frame, of a thing.
A rotten carcass of a boat. --Shak.
4. Mil. A hollow case or shell, filled with combustibles, to be thrown from a mortar or howitzer, to set fire to buldings, ships, etc.
A discharge of carcasses and bombshells. --W. Iving.
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