body snatcher

a person who steals corpses; graverobber.

Slang. an agency that recruits executives working for one company to fill top management positions in another.

Origin of body snatcher

First recorded in 1805–15

I shall cancel the body-snatcher—I mean billiard-marker—and go as Carry One.

Berry And Co. |Dornford Yates
Bishop had been a body-snatcher for twelve years, and he had during that time obtained and sold over five hundred bodies.

The History of Burke and Hare |George Mac Gregor
Clear off into your hole and hold your tongue, you body-snatcher!

Pelle the Conqueror, Complete |Martin Anderson Nexo
He describes graves with the minuteness of a body-snatcher; and when he would be impressive is disgusting.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. II, No. X., March 1851 |Various

The body-snatcher was to be punished by death and the lack of sepulture.

The Danish History, Books I-IX |Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")

body snatcher

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

body snatching, noun