Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) One who, or that which, leads or conducts; a guide; a conductor.

2. (n.) One who goes first.

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

4. (n.) 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.

5. (n.) A block of hard wood pierced with suitable holes for leading ropes in their proper places.

6. (n.) The principal wheel in any kind of machinery.

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

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

9. (n.) 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.

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

11. (n.) The first, or the principal, editorial article in a newspaper; a leading or main editorial article.

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

13. (n.) 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.