different between corporation vs guild

English

Etymology

From Late Latin corporatio (“assumption of a body”), from Latin corporatus, past participle of corporare (“to form into a body”); see corporate.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e???n
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k??p???e???n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??p???e???n/

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.
2. The municipal governing body of a borough or city.
3. (historical) In Fascist Italy, a joint association of employers' and workers' representatives.
4. (slang, dated, humorous) A protruding belly (perhaps a play on the word corpulence).

   Synonym: paunch

   • 1918, Katherine Mansfield, ‘Prelude’, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, page 91:

     'You'd be surprised,' said Stanley, as though this were intensely interesting, 'at the number of chaps at the club who have got a corporation.'

   • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, p. 316:

     He was a big chap with a corporation already, and a flat face rather like Dora's, and he had a thin black moustache.

   • 2001, Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys, London: Scribner, Part 2, Chapter 20, p. 620,^[2]

     The sergeant was a goner. There was only one way to save him, and he threw himself on top, hurling the man to the ground. He lay covering his corporation with as much as his body and limbs would allow.

Derived terms

• British Broadcasting Corporation
• corporation tax

Hyponyms

• (body corporate): public limited company (UK)

Related terms

• corporate
• incorporate

Translations

Further reading

• corporation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• corporation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

Noun

corporation f (plural corporations)

1. corporation
2. guild

English

Alternative forms

• gild

Etymology

From Middle English gilde, from Old Norse gildi (“payment, guild”). Related to geld, yield, yauld.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ld/
• Rhymes: -?ld
• Homophones: gild, gilled

Noun

guild (plural guilds)

1. A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans for mutual aid, particularly in the Middle Ages.
2. A corporation.
3. (ecology) A group of diverse species that share common characteristics or habits.
4. (video games) An organized group of players who regularly play together in a multiplayer game.

Synonyms

• (medieval professional associations): Hanse (merchants)
• (modern professional associations): trade union, union, professional association

Translations

See also

• (meeting place): guild hall, guildhall, guildsman, guildswoman, common house, common hall

References

• The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000, Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009
• Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, HarperCollins Publishers, 2003