1. n.1 a non-commissioned army or air-force officer ranking next below sergeant.
2 (in full ship's corporal) Brit. an officer under the master-at-arms, attending to police matters.
3 US a freshwater fallfish, Semotilis corporalis.
Etymology: obs. F, var. of caporal f. It. caporale prob. f. L corporalis (as CORPORAL(2)), confused with It. capo head 2. adj. of or relating to the human body (cf. CORPOREAL).
Phrases and idioms:
corporal punishment punishment inflicted on the body, esp. by beating.
Derivatives:
corporally adv.
Etymology: ME f. OF f. L corporalis f. corpus -oris body 3. n. a cloth on which the vessels containing the consecrated elements are placed during the celebration of the Eucharist.
Etymology: OE f. OF corporal or med.L corporale pallium body cloth (as CORPORAL(2))