E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Car’cass.
The shell of a house before the floors are laid and walls plastered; the skeleton of a ship, a wreck, etc. The body of a dead animal, so called from the Latin caro-cassa (lifeless flesh). (French, carcasse.)
1
“The Goodwins, I think they call the place; a
very dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcases of many a tall ship lie buried.”—Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, iii. 1.
