corpus vile

noun — 2 senses

corpus vile

noun

/ˈkɔɹpəs ˈviːleɪ/

Etymology From Latin corpus (“body”) vile (“worthless”).

1

A person, animal or thing treated as expendable, to therefore use as an experimental subject regardless of whatever loss or damage it may suffer as a result.

2

Figuratively The subject of an experiment.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.