Căr'cass, n.

n. [Fr. carcasse, Sp. carcasa, It. & Pg. carcassa, from Lat. caro, flesh, and capsa, chest, box, case. Cf. Eng. chest, box, and the trunk of the body. Cf. infra.] [Written also carcase.] 1. The dead body of an animal; a corpse. The mangled carcass of the poor victim. Prescott. 2. The body, in contempt or ridicule. To pamper his own carcass. South. 3. The decaying remains of a thing, as of a boat or ship. The rotten carcass of a boat. Shak.

4. The frame or main parts of a thing, unfinished or without ornament.
5. [Fr. carcasse, It. carcassa, Sp. carcasa, O. Sp. carcax, equivalent to carcasa, fire-engine, N. Sp. quiver, Fr. carquois, Pr. carcais, Pg. carcas, It. carcasso, quiver, because both of them are encircled and kept together with iron rings or ribs, which resemble the ribs of a human carcass. Cf. supra.]

(Mil.) A hollow vessel, about the size of a bomb, of an oval figure, filled with combustibles, to be thrown from a mortar into a town, to set fire to buildings. A discharge of carcasses and bomb-shells. W. Irving.