body snatcher
noun
Forms body snatchers bodysnatcher body-snatcher
- noun (slang, humorous, derogatory, obsolete) One who makes arrests, such as a bailiff or policeman.
- noun One who abducts or controls another's body, such as a slaver, psychic, or human resources agent.
- noun (historical) One who sells cadavers to anatomists, surgeons, etc., especially by exhuming corpses from graves, a resurrection man.
- noun (in particular) A graverobber who steals bodies or body parts.
- noun (UK, military, slang) A stretcher-bearer.
Synonyms
resurrectionist pod person resurrection man graverobber ghoul
Etymology
From body + snatcher. Later use highly influenced by the novel The Body Snatchers (1955) and its repeated adaptation into film, wherein aliens begin replacing humans with pod people.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “body snatcher”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details