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)
(Mus.) 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)
(Naut.) A block of hard wood pierced with suitable holes for leading ropes in their proper places.
(e)
(Mach.) The principal wheel in any kind of machinery. (Obs. or R.)
(f)
A horse placed in advance of others; one of the forward pair of horses. "He forgot to pull in his leaders, and they gallop away with him at times."
(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.