n. 1. (Med., Physiol. Chem.) Any of various bodies or substances in the blood which act in antagonism to harmful foreign bodies, as toxins or the bacteria producing the toxins. Normal blood serum apparently contains various antibodies, and the introduction of toxins or of foreign cells also stimulates production of their specific antibodies by the immune system. In certain “autoimmune” diseases, the immune system of an organism may produce antibodies to parts of the organism's own structure, and can cause considerable damage and even death as a result. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

2. (Med., Physiol. Chem.) more narrowly, any of the immunoglobulins present in the blood serum or other body fluids of an animal, which reacts with a specific antigenic substance, whether the antibody was produced as a consequence of the stimulus provided by the antigen, or was pre-existing prior to exposure of the organism to the antigen. The soluble antibodies present in serum are complex globins (proteins) with both constant and variable regions in the polypeptide chains, the variable region being responsible for the reaction of the antibody with its specific antigen. Typically, antibodies of more than one structure may react with a given antigen, and any given antigen may stimulate production of more than one antibody. Methods have been developed to grow cells in tissue culture which produce predominantly only one specific antibody, and such antibodies thus produced (called monoclonal antibodies) are highly specific in their reactions to molecular strucures, and are used as valuable reagents in biochemical technology. [ PJC. ]

n. 1. Any one out of an indefinite number of persons; anyone; any person. [ 1913 Webster ]

His Majesty could not keep any secret from anybody. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person of consideration or standing. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

All the men belonged exclusively to the mechanical and shopkeeping classes, and there was not a single banker or anybody in the list. Lond. Sat. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Bodies [ OE. bodi, AS. bodig; akin to OHG. botah. √257. Cf. Bodice. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The material organized substance of an animal, whether living or dead, as distinguished from the spirit, or vital principle; the physical person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Absent in body, but present in spirit. 1 Cor. v. 3 [ 1913 Webster ]

For of the soul the body form doth take.
For soul is form, and doth the body make. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The trunk, or main part, of a person or animal, as distinguished from the limbs and head; the main, central, or principal part, as of a tree, army, country, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The van of the king's army was led by the general; . . . in the body was the king and the prince. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rivers that run up into the body of Italy. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The real, as opposed to the symbolical; the substance, as opposed to the shadow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Col. ii. 17. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A person; a human being; -- frequently in composition; as, anybody, nobody. [ 1913 Webster ]

A dry, shrewd kind of a body. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A number of individuals spoken of collectively, usually as united by some common tie, or as organized for some purpose; a collective whole or totality; a corporation; as, a legislative body; a clerical body. [ 1913 Webster ]

A numerous body led unresistingly to the slaughter. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A number of things or particulars embodied in a system; a general collection; as, a great body of facts; a body of laws or of divinity. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Any mass or portion of matter; any substance distinct from others; as, a metallic body; a moving body; an aëriform body. “A body of cold air.” Huxley. [ 1913 Webster ]

By collision of two bodies, grind
The air attrite to fire. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Amount; quantity; extent. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. That part of a garment covering the body, as distinguished from the parts covering the limbs. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. The bed or box of a vehicle, on or in which the load is placed; as, a wagon body; a cart body. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Print.) The shank of a type, or the depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated); as, a nonpareil face on an agate body. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Geom.) A figure that has length, breadth, and thickness; any solid figure. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. Consistency; thickness; substance; strength; as, this color has body; wine of a good body. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Colors bear a body when they are capable of being ground so fine, and of being mixed so entirely with oil, as to seem only a very thick oil of the same color. [ 1913 Webster ]

14. (Aëronautics) The central, longitudinal framework of a flying machine, to which are attached the planes or aërocurves, passenger accommodations, controlling and propelling apparatus, fuel tanks, etc. Also called fuselage. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

After body (Naut.), the part of a ship abaft the dead flat. --
Body cavity (Anat.), the space between the walls of the body and the inclosed viscera; the cælum; -- in mammals, divided by the diaphragm into thoracic and abdominal cavities. --
Body of a church, the nave. --
Body cloth; pl.
Body cloths, a cloth or blanket for covering horses. --
Body clothes. (pl.) 1. Clothing for the body; esp. underclothing. 2. Body cloths for horses. [ Obs. ] Addison. --
Body coat, a gentleman's dress coat. --
Body color (Paint.), a pigment that has consistency, thickness, or body, in distinction from a tint or wash. --
Body of a law (Law), the main and operative part. --
Body louse (Zool.), a species of louse (Pediculus vestimenti), which sometimes infests the human body and clothes. See Grayback. --
Body plan (Shipbuilding), an end elevation, showing the conbour of the sides of a ship at certain points of her length. --
Body politic, the collective body of a nation or state as politically organized, or as exercising political functions; also, a corporation. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ] As to the persons who compose the body politic or associate themselves, they take collectively the name of “people”, or “nation”. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ] --
Body servant, a valet. --
The bodies seven (Alchemy), the metals corresponding to the planets. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] Sol gold is, and Luna silver we threpe (=call), Mars yren (=iron), Mercurie quicksilver we clepe, Saturnus lead, and Jupiter is tin, and Venus coper. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] --
Body snatcher, one who secretly removes without right or authority a dead body from a grave, vault, etc.; a resurrectionist. --
Body snatching (Law), the unauthorized removal of a dead body from the grave; usually for the purpose of dissection. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bodied (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bodying. ] To furnish with, or as with, a body; to produce in definite shape; to embody. [ 1913 Webster ]

To body forth, to give from or shape to mentally. [ 1913 Webster ] Imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. someone who does special exercises to develop the musculature.
Syn. -- musclebuilder. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. exercise that builds muscles through tension.
Syn. -- anaerobic exercise, musclebuilding. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A guard or group of guards to protect or defend the person; a lifeguard. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Retinue; attendance; following. Bp. Porteus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an establishment where the frame or outer body of a vehicle may be repaired or painted; -- contrasted with a mechanic, who repairs the motor and other working components. [ PJC ]

n. 1. the exterior body of a motor vehicle. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. the work of making or repairing vehicle bodies. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Busybodies One who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others; a meddling person. [ 1913 Webster ]

And not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. 1 Tim. v. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disembodied p. pr. & vb. n. Disembodying. ] 1. To divest of the body or corporeal existence. [ 1913 Webster ]

Devils embodied and disembodied. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) To disarm and disband, as a body of soldiers. Wilhelm. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Embodied p. pr. & vb. n. Embodying. ] To form into a body; to invest with a body; to collect into a body, a united mass, or a whole; to incorporate; as, to embody one's ideas in a treatise. [ Written also imbody. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Devils embodied and disembodied. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

The soul, while it is embodied, can no more be divided from sin. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To unite in a body, a mass, or a collection; to coalesce. [ Written also imbody. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Firmly to embody against this court party. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Every person. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a person who seldom goes anywhere; one not given to wandering or travel.
Syn. -- stay-at-home. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. [ See Embody. ] To become corporeal; to assume the qualities of a material body. See Embody. [ 1913 Webster ]

The soul grows clotted by contagion,
Imbodies, and imbrutes. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The body of an adult human male; -- a term used especially in art; as, Da Vinci was unexcelled in painting the male body.
Syn. -- adult male body, man's body. [ PJC ]

n. (Anatomy), The capsule that contains a glomerulus at the expanded end of a nephron; also called malpighian corpuscle and Malpighian capsule. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Nobodies [ No, a. + body. ] 1. No person; no one; not anybody. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: A person of no influence or importance; an insignificant or contemptible person. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) An American sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) having a conspicuous white throat. The name is imitative of its note. Called also White-throated sparrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To embody again. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ See Reembody. ] To imbody again. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A person unknown or uncertain; a person indeterminate; some person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me. Luke viii. 46. [ 1913 Webster ]

We must draw in somebody that may stand
'Twixt us and danger. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person of consideration or importance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody. Acts v. 36. [ 1913 Webster ]

. An automobile body which is built so that the side surfaces are flush. [ Cant ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. To leave the body; to be disembodied; -- said of the soul or spirit. [ R. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + body. ] To free from the body; to disembody. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her soul unbodied of the burdenous corse. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]