1) Items of clothing, found usually in the term ‘pair of bodies’.
1520 Item ij newe bodys and j olde, Mount Grace
1638 one paire of bodies, Sheffield
1694 she did then heare Ann Bingley proffer unto Elizabeth Dey a paire of stayes or bodies, Middlestown. The plural was convenient because the garment was made in two parts, and it was responsible later for 'bodice'. The term was used of more than one type of clothing and as a type of corset it would be an inner garmet for the upper body of the blody, quilted and strengthened with whalebone. These were sometimes worn by men but were chiefly for women. Also for women ‘bodies’ could be a tight-fitting outer garment, often separate from the skirt.