cor·pus (kôr?p?s)n. pl. cor·po·ra (-p?r-?) 1. A large collection of writings of a specific kind or on a specific subject.2. A collection of writings or recorded remarks used for linguistic analysis.3. Economics a. The capital or principal amount, as of an estate or trust.b. The principal of a bond.4. Anatomy a. The main part of a bodily structure or organ.b. A distinct bodily mass or organ having a specific function.5. The overall length of a violin.[Middle English, from Latin; see kwrep- in Indo-European roots.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.corpus (?k??p?s) n, pl -pora (-p?r?) 1. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a collection or body of writings, esp by a single author or on a specific topic: the corpus of Dickens’ works. 2. the main body, section, or substance of something3. (Anatomy) anatomy a. any distinct mass or bodyb. the main part of an organ or structure4. (Plants) the inner layer or layers of cells of the meristem at a shoot tip, which produces the vascular tissue and pith. Compare tunica25. (Linguistics) linguistics a body of data, esp the finite collection of grammatical sentences of a language that a linguistic theory seeks to describe by means of an algorithm6. (Banking & Finance) a capital or principal sum, as contrasted with a derived income7. obsolete a human or animal body, esp a dead one[C14: from Latin: body]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014cor?pus (?k?r p?s) n., pl. -po?ra (-p?r ?) for 1-3,5, -pus?es for 4. 1. a large or complete collection of writings: the entire corpus of Old English poetry. 2. the body of a person or animal, esp. when dead. 3. a. a mass of body tissue that has a specialized function. b. the main part of a bodily organ. 4. a collection of utterances, as spoken or written sentences, taken as a representative sample of a given language or dialect and used for linguistic analysis. [1225?75; Middle English