1. a woman's tightly fitting undergarment extending from below the chest to the hips, worn to shape the figure.
▪ a tightly fitting undergarment worn by men or women to support a weak or injured back.
▪ a tightly fitting laced or stiffened outer bodice.
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French, diminutive of cors ‘body’, from Latin corpus. The sense ‘close-fitting undergarment’ dates from the late 18th century, by which time the sense ‘bodice’ had mainly historical reference.