body snatcher

American

noun

a person who steals corpses; graverobber.
Slang. an agency that recruits executives working for one company to fill top management positions in another.

body snatcher British

noun

(formerly) a person who robbed graves and sold the corpses for dissection

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

body snatching noun

Etymology

Origin of body snatcher

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Wait a second, how do we know you’re not an alien body snatcher pretending to be Jimmy!?”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2022

Wait a second, how do we know you’re not an alien body snatcher pretending to be Jimmy!?

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2022

Is she a well-meaning lonely soul or some kind of malevolent body snatcher?

From New York Times • Nov. 23, 2021

One such body snatcher bill, Senate Bill 54, was introduced in February 2017.

From Washington Times • Oct. 28, 2018

He wouldn’t be the first body snatcher to open a grave to find the face of a long-lost cousin or a dear friend.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023