corporations

Noun

corporation (plural corporations)

1. A body corporate, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.
   • That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
2. The municipal governing body of a borough or city.
3. (historical) In Fascist Italy, a joint association of employers' and workers' representatives.
4. (dated, humorous, slang) A protruding belly.
   • [The Rector], looming large in full canonicals, walking, as became a beneficed priest, under the canopy of a shovel-hat, with the dignity of an ample corporation, the embellishment of the squarest and vastest of black coats, and the support of the stoutest of gold-headed canes.1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Whitsuntide”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 127–128

   Synonyms:

   paunch