To form into or incorporate as a body or corporation; to unite into one body.
From Middle English and Old French 'encorporer', derived from Latin 'en-' (into) + 'corpus' (body). The meaning evolved from physical embodiment to institutional or legal incorporation.
This word captures an interesting moment in English history when people started treating groups of people like a single 'body'—it's the root of our modern idea of corporations as legal entities with rights, even though they're not actually alive!
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