corporation

noun

1. a legal entity that exists independently of the person or persons who have been granted the charter creating it and that is invested with many of the rights given to individuals: a corporation may enter into contracts, buy and sell property, etc.
2. a group of people, as the mayor and aldermen of an incorporated town, legally authorized to act as an individual
3. any of the political and economic bodies forming a corporative state, each being composed of the employers and employees in a certain industry, profession, etc.

4. Origin: prob. from assoc. with corpulent, etc.

   Informal a large, prominent belly

Origin: ME corporacioun < LL(Ec) corporatio, assumption of a body, incarnation < pp. of L corporare: see corporate