headhunter

Noun

headhunter (plural headhunters)

1. A person who practises headhunting, the taking and preserving of a person's head after killing them.
   • 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
   • 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
2. One who recruits skilled personnel, especially executive-level ones, for a company.
   • Near-synonyms: recruiter, talent scout
   • A headhunter called me out of the blue with an offer I couldn't refuse.

   Synonyms:

   recruiter, talent scout

3. A pitcher who throws at the batter's head.
   • Thankfully, there aren't many headhunters in the modern game.
4. A player who uses a hockey stick to attempt to strike an opponent's head.
   • He is known as a goon and a headhunter.