headhunter

plural headhunters · alternative head hunter

1. anthropologyA person who practises headhunting, the taking and preserving of a person's head after killing them.

   Theirs was the spirit which upheld Darwin among the gauchos of the Argentine or Wallace among the head-hunters of Malaya.

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   1 more example

   We were accommodated here in the verandah of the large house, in which were several great baskets of dried human heads, the trophies of past generations of head-hunters.

   1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 84

2. businessOne who recruits skilled personnel, especially executive-level ones, for a company.

   Near-synonyms: recruiter, talent scout

   1 more example

   A headhunter called me out of the blue with an offer I couldn't refuse.

   Synonyms: recruiter, talent scout

3. ball gamesA pitcher who throws at the batter's head.

   Thankfully, there aren't many headhunters in the modern game.

4. hobbiesA player who uses a hockey stick to attempt to strike an opponent's head.

   He is known as a goon and a headhunter.