Brewer's: Body and Soul

To keep body and soul together. To sustain life; from the notion that the soul gives life. The Latin anima, and the Greek psyche, mean both soul and life; and, according to Homeric mythology, the departed soul retains the shape and semblance of the body, hence the notion of ghosts. Indeed, if the soul is the “principle of life,” it must of necessity be the facsimile of every living atom of the body. (See Astral Body.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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