[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/carcass/) [dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [C](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/c/) / carcass # carcass noun (a carcass, carcasses; also spelt carcase in the UK) «carcass» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova. ## Everyday 1. A carcass is the dead body of an animal, especially a large one, or one cut up for meat. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#m1) 2. The carcass of a cooked chicken or turkey is the bones left after the meat is eaten. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#m2) 3. The carcass of something is its frame or the broken remains: the carcass of an old car or building. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#m3) 4. (informal, rude or jokey) Someone's carcass can mean their body: «Get your carcass off the sofa!» [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#m4) ### In the lessons In science lessons about food chains, scavengers like vultures, hyenas, crows and Tasmanian devils feed on carcasses, and decomposers break down what is left, returning nutrients to the soil. In cooking at home, the turkey carcass is boiled to make soup or stock. In stories a carcass is a grim sign of a hunt or danger. Phrases: an animal carcass, a chicken carcass, the carcass of a whale, pick the carcass clean. ### Examples - Vultures circled above the zebra carcass. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x1) - Mum boiled the chicken carcass to make soup. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x2) - Hyenas stripped the carcass to the bones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x3) - A whale carcass on the sea floor feeds many creatures. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x4) - The rusty carcass of a car lay in the field. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x5) - Tasmanian devils eat carcasses, even the bones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x6) - The butcher hung the carcasses in the cold room. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x7) - (jokey) «Move your carcass, we're late!» said Dad. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x8) - Now and then, a drowned sheep, and once the carcass of a cow, floated past. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/#x9) ### Note Countable: a carcass, carcasses (add -es). Pronounced «KAR-kus». UK spelling «carcase» is also used, especially in the meat trade. Do not confuse with «corpse» (a dead human body). Using «carcass» for a living person's body is informal and jokey or rude. ## In Jewish tradition It means the dead body of an animal. Touching the carcass of an unclean animal made a person unclean until evening. The prophets also use it for a dead body of a person, or of the idols. **Interpretation.** Tradition teaches that touching a dead body brought a state of ritual uncleanness (tumah), which was a matter of ritual status, not of dirt or sin. The laws of purity decided who might enter the holy place. Ezekiel's carcasses laid before idols are read as a warning of the shame that idol worship brings. ### Examples - But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. (Torah NUM.14.32, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/carcass/#x1) - And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. (Torah GEN.15.11, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/carcass/#x2) - And by these ye shall become unclean; whosoever toucheth the carcass of them shall be unclean until even. (Torah LEV.11.24, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/carcass/#x3) - And he laid his carcass in his own grave; and they made lamentation for him: 'Alas, my brother!' (Prophets 1KI.13.30, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/carcass/#x4) - Upon his carcass all the fowls of the heaven do dwell, and upon his branches are all the beasts of the field; (Prophets EZK.31.13, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/carcass/#x5) - And I will lay the carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. (Prophets EZK.6.5, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/carcass/#x6) ### Note Countable: a carcass, carcasses (add -es). Pronounced «KAR-kus». UK spelling «carcase» is also used, especially in the meat trade. Do not confuse with «corpse» (a dead human body). Using «carcass» for a living person's body is informal and jokey or rude. ## On Mova - [Trees and pragmatics of «carcass» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carcass/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«carcass» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/carcass.html) on Mova free. - [Trees and pragmatics of «carcass» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/carcass/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«carcass» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/carcass.html) on Mova free.