Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The dead body of an animal, especially one slaughtered for food.
  • noun The body of a human.
  • noun Remains from which the substance or character is gone.
  • noun A framework or basic structure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To erect or set up the carcass or framework of a building or a ship.
  • noun The dead body of an animal; a corpse: not now commonly applied to a dead human body, except in contempt.
  • noun The body of a living animal, especially of a large animal; in contempt, the human body.
  • noun Figuratively, the decaying remains of a bulky thing, as of a boat or ship.
  • noun The frame or main parts of a thing unfinished, or without ornament, as the timberwork of a house before it is lathed or plastered or the floors are laid, or the keel, ribs, etc., of a ship.
  • noun An iron case, shell, or hollow vessel filled with combustible and other substances, as gunpowder, saltpeter, sulphur, broken glass, turpentine, etc., thrown from a mortar or howitzer, and intended to set fire to a building, ship, or wooden defense.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast.
  • noun The living body; -- now commonly used in contempt or ridicule.
  • noun 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.
  • noun (Mil.) A hollow case or shell, filled with combustibles, to be thrown from a mortar or howitzer, to set fire to buldings, ships, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Body of a dead animal.
  • noun Body of a dead human.
  • noun Framework of a structure, especially one not normally seen.
  • noun nautical An early incendiary ship-to-ship projectile consisting of an iron shell filled with saltpetre, sulphur, resin, turpentine, antimony and tallow with vents for flame.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the dead body of an animal especially one slaughtered and dressed for food

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English carcas, from Anglo-Norman carcais and Medieval Latin carcasium.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Dated from the late 13th Century CE; from Anglo-Norman carcois, possibly related to Old French charcois.

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Examples

  • Repeating the introductory note at the beginning, cooling the carcass is a first priority.

    Field & Stream 2008

  • Repeating the introductory note at the beginning, cooling the carcass is a first priority.

    Field & Stream 2008

  • Retrieved from the stomach of a sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus, the carcass is about 3 m long, long-bodied, and appears to have a camel-like head and a fluked tail.

    Archive 2006-09-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • Retrieved from the stomach of a sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus, the carcass is about 3 m long, long-bodied, and appears to have a camel-like head and a fluked tail.

    Cadborosaurus Darren Naish 2006

  • Trying to haze a grizzly off a carcass is a hardly unprecarious course of action.

    Being Bear Aware 2006

  • "Where the carcass is there will the vultures be gathered together," but the carcass must rot before the vultures descend.

    The British Empire 1910

  • I remain for where the carcass is there will the Eagles be gathered together.

    Letter 135 1794

  • Obviously, this works best if your deer carcass is still warm, and it may take a well-timed cut or two to help free the skin from a tough spot on some animals.

    How to Skin a Deer With Your Truck 2009

  • In effect, the US and Canadian governments bought that carcass from the estate for $2 billion, which was duly distributed to the creditors.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Assessing the Chrysler Bankruptcy 2010

  • A trimmed up deer or animal carcass is a good start, then make a "bait-sicle" from pouring warm water along with any blood, scraps or trimmings you have into a greased bucket and then freezing it.

    anyone have any tips for baiting coyotes? we have seen several deer hunting but cannot get them to respond to calls. 2010

Comments

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  • carcase is an older spelling

    June 12, 2009

  • Etymology: Middle French carcasse, alteration of Old French carcois, perhaps from carquois, carquais quiver, alteration of tarquais, from Medieval Latin tarcasius, from Arabic tarkash, from Persian tirkash, from tir arrow (from Old Persian tigra pointed) + -kash bearing (from kashdan to pull, draw, from Avestan karsh-

    August 30, 2009