English

Noun

leader (plural: leaders)

1. One who, or that which, leads or conducts; a guide; a conductor. Especially:

   (a) One who goes first.

   (b) One having authority to direct; a chief; a commander.

   (c) (Music): A performer who leads a band or choir in music; also, in an orchestra, the principal violinist; the one who plays at the head of the first violins.

   (d) (Nautical): A block of hard wood pierced with suitable holes for leading ropes in their proper places.

   (e) (Machines): The principal wheel in any kind of machinery. [Obs. or R.] G. Francis.

   (f) A horse placed in advance of others; one of the forward pair of horses.

   Quotations

   • He forgot to pull in his leaders, and they gallop away with him at times. - Hare?

   (g) A pipe for conducting rain water from a roof to a cistern or to the ground; a conductor.

   (h) (Fishing): A net for leading fish into a pound, weir, etc. ; also, a line of gut, to which the snell of a fly hook is attached.

   (i) (Mining): A branch or small vein, not important in itself, but indicating the proximity of a better one.

2. The first, or the principal, editorial article in a newspaper; a leading or main editorial article.
3. (Printing)

   (a) A type having a dot or short row of dots upon its face.

   (b) (plural):. a row of dots, periods, or hyphens, used in tables of contents, etc., to lead the eye across a space to the right word or number.

   (Film) A piece of blank film at the beginning of a movie to allow the film to be threaded in the projector.

Synonyms

• chief
• chieftain
• commander

See also

• president
• king/queen
• emperor/empress
• baron/baroness
• duke/duchess
• governor
• mayor
• sergeant
• general

Translations

• Dutch: leider m, leidster f, aanvoerder m, aanvoerster f
• French: chef m
• German: Anführer m, Anführerin f
• Latin: dux m,f
• Polish: przywódca m
• Spanish: líder m