Meanings
plural resurrection men · alternative resurrection-man
- euphemistichistoricalA man who sells cadavers to anatomists, surgeons, etc., especially by exhuming corpses from graves; a graverobber.
Persons (under the name of resurrection-men) continue their business, getting from 1 guinea to 5 or 6, according to the value set upon the corpse they take up.
1781, “R. King”, in Compl. Mod. London Spy, section 1061 more example
Earlier exhumations seem to have caused very little popular concern;... but later... the trade of ‘resurrection man’ became commoner, and attracted the lowest dregs of the vicious classes.
1910, Encyclopædia Britannica, I. 937/2Synonyms: burker, Burkite, resurrectioner, resurrectionist, bodysnatcher, body snatcher
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA man who sells cadavers to anatomists, surgeons, etc., especially by exhuming corpses from graves; a graverobber.
Origin
resurrection (“the act of rising from the dead and becoming alive again”) + man
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
resurrection man. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/resurrection%20man
“resurrection man.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/resurrection%20man. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “resurrection man,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/resurrection%20man.
Source: resurrection man on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.