Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und., also smasher) a body-snatcher or ‘resurrectionist’.

1828		Belfast Commercial Chron. 26 Mar. 1/3: ‘Jim the snatcher is not be scared by rotten flesh!’.
1830		Leicester Jrnl 26 Mar. 3/5: Two resurrectionists having met in ‘the West End,’ when the fashionably dressed and well-laced gentlemen passed them. ‘I say, Jack [...] d’ye see those three subjects, man?’ ‘No fooling it over me,’ answered his brother snatcher [etc].
1842		W.H. Maxwell Rambling Recollections of a Soldier of Fortune 53: The smasher found his marks—and a hole was sunk at the head of the grave, by which the body was speedily extracted from the coffin.
1884		A. Griffiths Chronicles of Newgate 476: An avowed ‘snatcher’ and habitué of the Fortune of War, a public house in Smithfield.

2. a young and inexperienced pickpocket.

1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 106: [Pickpockets] can be subdivided into three orders: ‘men of the world,’ or professional hooks, ordinary ‘snatchers,’ or young and inexperienced thieves; and ‘thief-cadgers,’ the lowest species of the class. [Ibid.] 118: Snatchers — This type of pickpocket bears the same resemblance to his superior brother, the hook, as the apprentice to some trade does to his master.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 77: Snatchers, novice pickpockets.

3. a thief, esp. a pickpocket.

1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 344: Snatchers, who usually work in gangs of three or four, are the men who make a snatch for the watch and bolt, leaving their confederates to impede a chase.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Aug. 13/3: A couple of ‘snatchers’ [...] grabbed her purse and did a record ‘steeple’ down the street and over two fences before being caught.
1916		J. Lait ‘Canada Kid’ Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 155: I was the son of a tough box-cracker an’ a whisky-drinkin’ counter-snatcher.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1955		Q. Reynolds Police Headquarters (1956) 75: Snatchers (payroll), Snatchers (pocketbooks).
1965		C. Himes Cotton Comes to Harlem (1967) 48: He’s a snatcher but I don’t know no sting he’s made recently.

4. a police officer, esp. a detective.

1900		Sporting Times 12 May 2/2: From Clarence the Snatcher:– ‘Buck up and come out here.’.
1944		Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 259: snatcher (n.): detective.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 216: Gun the snatcher on your left raise.

5. with the pertinent noun, a person who arrests a specific type.

1917

‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 100: What we were told not only made us even more ‘leary’ of our man, but also instilled us with a yearning to have a squint at the notorious hobo snatcher.

6. (US) a kidnapper.

1931		D. Runyon ‘The Snatching of Bookie Bob’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 118: His family [...] dig up enough scratch to pay whatever price the snatchers are asking.
1935		G.V. Miller ‘When Doubles Cross’ in Spicy Detective Stories Nov. 🌐 He was supposed to meet the snatchers—if that’s what’s up—and he didn’t have the guts.
1949		A. Hynd We Are the Public Enemies 142: Campbell was finally captured [...] and, as a Bremer snatcher, shipped to Alcatraz for life.
1949		L.A. Times 17 May IV 4/6: He owned the car used by the snatchers [DA].