1. a person who steals dead bodies from graves or morgues, historically for sale to medical schools for dissection
Usage: historical; often used in reference to 19th-century grave robbers
2. in science fiction, an alien or creature that takes over or replaces human bodies
Usage: informal; from the film 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and similar works

Examples

• The museum exhibit detailed the crimes of notorious bodysnatchers in 18th-century Edinburgh.
• Medical schools in the 1800s sometimes relied on bodysnatchers to obtain cadavers for student instruction.
• The horror film featured alien bodysnatchers who duplicated humans while they slept.
• Bodysnatchers were eventually stopped by laws that made it easier for medical institutions to legally obtain bodies for research.
• The term 'bodysnatcher' has become synonymous with grave robbing in popular historical accounts.