/ˈkɔːpərə ˈvaɪlɪə/.corpus vilen.
/ˈkɔːpəs ˈvʌɪli//ˈkɔːpərə ˈvaɪlɪə/. A living or dead body that is of so little value that it can be used for experiment without regard for the outcome; transferred, experimental material of any kind, or something which has no value except as the object of experimentation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [noun] > that which is experimented on or with
test object1830
corpus vile1860
lab rat1954
1822 T. De Quincey Confessions Eng. Opium-eater App. 189 Fiat experimentum in corpore vili is a just rule where there is any reasonable presumption of benefit to arise on a large scale.
1860 Once a Week 14 Apr. 343/1 It appeared that when she was in want of a chapter, she was in the habit of practising upon poor G. as a corpus vile.
1861 C. Lever in All Year Round 5 Jan. 310/1 It was making the experiment in the ‘corpore vile’ [sic] of accident, to see what might come of it.
1865 C. M. Yonge Clever Woman I. iii. 80 The only difficulty was to find poor people enough who would submit to serve as the corpus vile for their charitable treatment.
1867 J. S. Mill Lett. (1910) II. 94 Ireland may be tried as a corpus vile for experimentation on Government management of railways and telegraphs.
1884 Athenæum 23 Feb. 242/1 There is too great tendency for the psychological novelist to regard his characters as so many corpora vilia for his scientific theories.
1933 Week-end Rev. 16 Sept. 277/1 Judith is much more than a corpus vile for the infliction of her foster-mother's spite.
1953 Ess. in Crit. 3 i. 4 I am not proposing to include among these initial corpora vilia passages from either Mr Eliot's criticism or Dr Leavis's.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1822