From Middle English, from earlier corse, from Old French cors, from Latin corpus.

Displaced native English likam and English lich. The ⟨p⟩ was inserted due to the original Latin spelling. Doublet of corps and corpus. The verb sense derives from the notion of being unable to control laughter while acting as dead body.

• (horse-hoarse)
  • (RP) IPA: /kɔːps/
  • (America) IPA: /koɹps/, [kʰo̞ɹps]
  • (AuE) IPA: /koːps/
• (non-horse-hoarse)
  • (rhotic) IPA: /kɔːɹps/
  • (non-rhotic) IPA: /kɔːps/

corpse (plural corpses)

1. A dead body, especially that of a human as opposed to an animal.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:corpse

   • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

     I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them, / And the white skeletons of young men, I saw them, / I saw the debris and debris of all the slain soldiers of the war, […]

2. (archaic, sometimes, derogatory) A human body in general, whether living or dead.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:body

• French: cadavre, corps, corps sans vie (euphemism)
• German: Leiche, Leichnam
• Italian: cadavere, salma
• Portuguese: cadáver, corpo
• Russian: труп
• Spanish: cuerpo, cadáver

corpse (corpses, present participle corpsing; simple past and past participle corpsed)

1. (intransitive, slang, of an actor) To laugh uncontrollably during a performance.
2. (transitive, slang, of an actor) To cause another actor to do this.