corps / kôr/ • n. (pl. corps / kôrz/ ) a main subdivision of an armed force in the field, consisting of two or more divisions: the 5th Army Corps. ∎  a branch of a military organization assigned to a particular kind of work: the U.S. Army Medical Corps. ∎  a body of people engaged in a particular activity: the press corps. ∎ short for corps de ballet.

Corps

a body of men assigned to a special service, usually military; a number of students; members of an organization who wear uniforms, as St. John Ambulance Corps.

Examples: corps of actors [Dramatic Corps], 1831; of anatomists—Mensa; Corps de Ballet, 1845; of counsellors [legal], 1803; of giraffes; of instructors, 1859; ragged corps of labourers, 1832; of writers, 1882.

corps XVIII. — F. corps, used as short for corps d'armée army corps; see next.