resurrectionists

Noun

resurrectionist (plural resurrectionists)

1. (euphemistic, historical) One who sells cadavers to anatomists, surgeons, etc., especially by exhuming corpses from graves; a graverobber.
   • One... who makes open profession of dealing in dead bodies and is well known by the name of the Resurrectionist.1777, Ann. Reg. 1776, section 129

   Synonyms:

   bodysnatcher, resurrectioner, resurrection man

2. A believer in a future bodily resurrection.
   • Those who make the rest of the dead... to be the same with the remnant slain by the sword... to be consistent, ought to make the first resurrectionists the same with the armies in heaven.1830, A. Addis, Theory of Prophecy, Prol. p.xliv
3. One who resurrects an abandoned idea, practice, etc.; a revivalist.
   • We have no taste for enacting the part of literary resurrectionists.1831, New Monthly Magazine, 32 362
4. (humorous, obsolete) One who sells repaired or reconditioned goods; a refurbisher.
   • Some of the habitual buyers [of ostrich feathers] have nicknames, and those who do a local business and buy for re-selling are known as ‘resurrectionists’.1888 July, Longman's Magazine, 256
5. (humorous, obsolete) A racehorse that (once or numerously) suddenly recovers its stamina midrace.
   • There is a class of horses called ‘resurrectionists’... and they either recover early form... or... become animated, when they were supposed to be gone altogether, with... life and vigour.1883 October 23, Standard, 3/2