Definition of “leader”

noun

1. a person who rules, guides, or inspires others; head
2. music 
   1. Also called (esp US and Canadian) concertmasterthe principal first violinist of an orchestra, who plays solo parts, and acts as the conductor's deputy and spokesman for the orchestra
   2. US a conductor or director of an orchestra or chorus
3. 1. the first man on a climbing rope
   2. the leading horse or dog in a team
4. mainly US Canadian an article offered at a sufficiently low price to attract customers See also loss leader
5. a statistic or index that gives an advance indication of the state of the economy
6. leading articlemainly British the leading editorial in a newspaper
7. angling another word for trace² (sense 2) , cast (sense 32a)
8. nautical another term for fairlead
9. a strip of blank film or tape used to facilitate threading a projector, developing machine, etc, and to aid identification
10. (plural) printing rows of dots or hyphens used to guide the reader's eye across a page, as in a table of contents
11. botany any of the long slender shoots that grow from the stem or branch of a tree: usually removed during pruning
12. British a member of the Government having primary authority in initiating legislative business (esp in the phrases Leader of the House of Commons and Leader of the House of Lords)
13. the senior barrister, usually a Queen's Counsel, in charge of the conduct of a case Compare junior (sense 6)