corpse

Etymology

Middle English, from earlier corse, from Old French cors, from Latin corpus (“body”). Displaced native English likam from Old English līċ. The ⟨p⟩ was inserted due to the original Latin spelling. Doublet of corps and corpus. The verb sense derives from the notion of being unable to control laughter while acting as dead body.

noun

1. A dead body.
   For quotations using this term, see Citations:corpse.
2. (archaic, sometimes derogatory) A human body in general, whether living or dead.

verb

1. (intransitive, slang, of an actor) To laugh uncontrollably during a performance.
   The rest of the day and the week were spent blocking and learning the lines. The only drama was the predictable one of being ticked off for corpsing. Rupert was quite as bad as me when it came to giggling and the tea-party scene which took place between Rupert, David Parfitt, Piers Flint-Shipman and I, was too much. 1989, Kenneth Branagh, Beginning, London: Chatto & Windus, page 94
   There were still moments when she would halt suddenly, like an actor stranded in the middle of the stage, lines forgotten, staring goggle-eyed and making fish-mouths...Corpsing: that was the word. 1993, John Banville, Ghosts
   Poor Damian corpsed and almost forgot his next lines. The director gave him a terrific lecture, and Alan caught hell from stage management. 1993, Bevan Amberhill, The Bloody Man, Mercury Press
2. (transitive, slang, of an actor) To cause another actor to do this.