body count

English

Alternative forms

• bodycount

Etymology

Coined by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War in the sense "number of killed enemy combatants", in 1962 according to Merriam-Webster.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

body count (plural body counts)

1. The number of persons or bodies counted as casualties, especially of those killed.
   • 2017 January 12, Jesse Hassenger, “A literal monster truck is far from the stupidest thing about Monster Trucks”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     In addition to racking up what looks like a substantial offscreen body count, the movie at one point offers an eight-second introduction for a sleazy used-car salesman character for the sole purpose of justifying Tripp and Creech laying waste to his inventory.

2. (slang) The total number of sexual partners of a given individual. [late 2010s]

   Hyponyms: notch count, cock count, mileage