Leader¹

Forms: 4–6 ledar(e, -er(e, (4 ledder, leeder, 5 ledir, leedare), 5–7 Sc. leidar, -er, (6 ledair), 6– leader. [f. LEAD v.¹ + -ER¹.]

  I.  One who leads.

  1.  gen. in various senses of the vb.: One who conducts, precedes as a guide, leads a person by the hand or an animal by a cord, etc. Also with adverbs, as leader-away, leader-on, for which see the corresponding verbal phrases. Follow my leader: see FOLLOW v. 1 c.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter liv. 14. Mi leder, and mi kowth sa gode.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 1454 (1482). Oon thynketh þe bere But al a-nother thynketh his ledere.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, VII. 20. He suld ger Bath the sleuthhund and the ledar Tyne the sleuth men ger him ta.

1382.  Wyclif, Matt. xv. 14. Thei ben blynde, and lederis of blynde men.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. viii. (1495), 418. Curlewes haue guydes and ledars as cranes haue for they drede the goshawke.

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 5675. Withouten ledar nedit he [a man struck blind] To abyde behynd.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, I. xi. 5. Blyithlie following his ledair Achates.

1552.  Huloet, Leder awaye, abductor.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., III. ii. 3. You were wont to be a follower, but now you are a leader.

1633.  Ford, Broken H., I. ii. Without Reason, Voycing the Leader-on a Demi-god.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 451. Leader to free Enjoyment of our right as Gods.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 526. Ample Plains, Where oft the Flocks without a Leader stray.

1838.  Dickens, Nich. Nick., xiii. Follow your leader, boys, and take pattern by Smike if you dare.

1861.  J. Edmond, Childr. Ch. at Home, i. 17. Christ is … a leader to all that trust him.

  † b.  One who has the charge of (animals).

1495.  Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 34 § 4. The office of the Maistershippe of the leder of the Dere of the parke of Okeley.

  c.  † The driver of a vehicle (obs.). d. dial. A carter.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21283. Bath wise and war es þat leder [sc. of þe wain].

1497.  Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. (1877), I. 355. Item, to the sand ledaris, xviijs.

1548.  in Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871), II. 141. That na maner of persouns ledares of burne tak [etc.].

1847.  Sheffield Indep. (E.D.D.), A coal leader.

1887.  Donaldson, Suppl. to Jamieson, s.v., Until comparatively late years the occupation of water-carrier was followed by a large number of men and women, some carried by hand…; some by barrow…; and some by cart—those were the leaders.

1888.  Sheffield Gloss., Leader, a carter. ‘A coal leader.’

  2.  One who leads a body of armed men; a commander, a captain.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7630. And of a thusand men o wal He made him [David] ledder and marscal.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 217. The oost of þe Gothes was i-slawe in Thuscia, and here ledere Ragadasius was i-take.

c. 1400.  trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 108–9. Off lederes off ostes and here ordinaunce … Folwe þanne vche comandour tene vicaires, & vche vicaire tene lederes, & vche ledere tene denys.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, IV. 143. Our leidar is gayne, Amang our fays he is set him allayne.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. i. 143. A worthy Leader, wanting ayd, Vnto his dastard foe-men is betray’d.

1665.  Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Warres, 715. Sir Horace Vere … performed the duty, both of a good Leader and Souldier.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xii. All this day … they will gather to their leader’s standard.

1844.  H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 20. Detachments of troops were … sent … to secure the leaders.

  3.  One who guides others in action or opinion; one who takes the lead in any business, enterprise or movement; one who is ‘followed’ by disciples or adherents; the chief of a sect or party. † In early use occas. a chieftain, governor.

  Leader of the House of Commons: the member of the government who has the official initiative in the proceedings of the House.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, III. 660. Anguss … wes … lord and ledar off kyntyr.

1495.  Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 7. The seid … principall or principallis leder or leders that unlaufully cause the seid people to gedre or rise.

1532.  More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 515/2. The leaders and maisters of the christen fayth.

1552.  Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 47. To be ledar techar & direckar of the same kirk.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scotl., ix. 213. For his brotheris caus he was cheif leider of the ring.

1666.  Temple, Lett. to Godolphin, Wks. 1713, II. 18. The Duke of Albuquerque you will find … no great Leader in Council or Business.

1719–20.  Swift, Let. Yng. Clergyman, Misc. (1727), I. 361. Demosthenes and Cicero … each of them a Leader … in a popular State.

1771.  Junius Lett., liv. 286. I am a partizan of the great leader of the opposition.

1828.  D’Israeli, Chas. I., II. xi. 269. A genius so commanding and so turbulent, was fitted to be the leader of a party.

1841–4.  Emerson, Ess., Manners, Wks. (Bohn), I. 208. Ir the people should destroy class after class, until two men only were left, one of these would be the leader.

1874.  Green, Short Hist., viii. § 5. 500. The leaders in the country party … were thrown into prison.

1883.  Froude, Short Stud., IV. II. ii. 187. Circumstances independent of himself could alone have raised him into a leader of a party.

  † b.  Phrases. Leader of laws: one who has power in the state, a ruler. Leader of hail: a guide to salvation. Obs.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1307. He … hatz … þe lederes of her lawe layd to þe grounde.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, i. (Petrus), 674. And þu [Paul] dere brothir, far wele ay lledar of heile and saweoure.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xxx. 55. O leder of lawis.

a. 1605.  Montgomerie, Sonn., xxi. 1. My lords, late lads, nou leidars of our lauis.

  c.  A counsel who ‘leads’ (see LEAD v.¹ 16) in the conduct of a case before the court; a barrister whose status (in England, that of a King’s Counsel) entitles him to ‘lead.’ Also, the senior counsel of a circuit.

1856.  Wilkie Collins, A Rogue’s Life, v. He had engaged the leader of the circuit to defend me.

1878.  Ball, Student’s Guide to Bar, 44. At the trial itself he will generally have a ‘leader’ on whom the conduct of the case will wholly depend.

1883.  J. H. Slater, Guide Legal Prof., 17. Queen’s Counsel are usually termed ‘Leaders,’ and they sit in front of the utter Barristers, whom they are said to ‘lead’ in any particular case in which both are engaged.

  d.  The foremost or most eminent member (of a profession); also, in wider sense, a person of eminent position and influence.

1858.  O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., v. (1859), 115. Judges, mayors … leaders in science … were represented in that meeting.

1884.  Illustr. Lond. News, 1 Nov., 410/3. Here is Mr. F. Archer, the leader of his profession.

  4.  One who leads a choir or band of dancers, musicians or singers. Leader of praise (Sc.) = PRECENTOR.

1530.  Palsgr., 238/1. Leeder of a daunce, auant dancevr.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 157. We must follow the Leaders.

1811.  Busby, Dict. Mus. (ed. 3), Leader, a performer who in a concert takes the principal violin, receives the time and style of the movements from the conductor, and communicates them to the rest of the band.

1859.  Jephson, Brittany, xvi. 269. The leader, as in our village churches, was evidently a person of immense importance.

1892.  Glasgow Herald, 22 April, 2/2. Leader of Praise Wanted.

1900.  Blackw. Mag., July, 51/1. The leader trills ahead in runs and shakes up and down the scale.

  5.  Among Methodists, the presiding member of a ‘class’ (see CLASS sb. 7 b). Usually class-leader.

1743.  Wesley, Nat. United Societies, Wks. 1872, VIII. 270. There are about twelve persons in every class; one of whom is styled the Leader.

1791.  [see CLASS sb. 7 b].

  6.  The first man in a file, one in the front rank, one of the foremost in a moving body. In Surveying, the foremost carrier of the chain.

1604.  Edmonds, Observ. Cæsar’s Comm., 130. Euery one is especially to acknowledge his leader or foremost man to be the author of all his motions.

1616–1809.  [see file-leader, FILE sb.² 11].

1622.  Peacham, Compl. Gent. (1634), 240. The men in the File are to be distinguished by the names of Leaders, Bringers up and Middle-men.

1857.  Hughes, Tom Brown, I. vii. The leaders are busy making casts into the fields on the left and right.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xxv. 188. Another person was sent forward, who drew himself up by the rope which was attached to the leader.

  b.  One of the front horses in a team, or the front horse in a tandem.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Leaders … the Fore-horses in Coaches and Teams.

1784.  Cowper, Tiroc., 254. With pack-horse constancy we keep the road … True to the jingling of our leader’s bells.

1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1191. He was a capital horse, the off-leader.

1859.  Dickens, T. Two Cities, I. ii. The near leader violently shook his head.

1886.  Ruskin, Præterita, I. vi. 182. If the horses were young … there was a postillion for the leaders also.

  7.  a. Cards. The first player in a round; also, one who ‘leads’ from a particular suit.

1677.  Miége, Eng.-Fr. Dict., s.v., A leader, in Cards, celui que joue le premier.

1742.  Hoyle, Whist (1763), 45. If the Leader of that Suit or his Partner have the long Trump.

1876.  A. Campbell-Walker, Correct Card, Gloss. (1880), 12. Leader, the first to play each round.

  b.  Curling. The first player: cf. LEAD sb.² 5 a.

1789.  D. Davidson, Seasons, 166. Next Robin o’ Mains, a leader good, Close to the witter drew.

  II.  A thing that leads.

  8.  a. gen. b. colloq. A remark or question intended to lead conversation (cf. FEELER 4 b). c. Comm. (? U.S.) = LEADING ARTICLE 2.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 33/124. Þe steorre gan softe to glide forth, also it were þene way to teche…. þe Abbot Anourede his ledare.

c. 1450.  trans. De Imitatione, III. lxi. 143. Þe crosse is þe lif of a gode monke, & þe leder to paradise.

1581.  Mulcaster, Positions, Ep. Ded. (1887), 4. It is an argument which craueth consideration, bycause it is the leader to a further consequence.

1882.  Mrs. Riddell, Pr. Wales’s Garden-Party, 34. ‘And what did you make of them over the dish of tea?’ suggested the young man as a leader.

1889.  Pop. Sci. Monthly, XXXIV. 622. A new rival may inflict severe loss … through cutting the price of a staple below cost, and making it what is called a ‘leader.’

1895.  Critic, 6 April, 263/1. In several Sixth Avenue houses, new books by popular writers have long been used as ‘leaders’—the technical name, I believe, for goods sold at little or no profit, sometimes even at a loss, for the sake of drawing customers, with a view of getting them to buy other wares as well.

  9.  In a tree or shrub: The shoot that grows at the apex of the stem, or of a principal branch; also, a bine.

1572.  Mascall, Plant. & Graff. (1592), 75. Ye shall neuer leaue aboue two or three leaders at the head of any principall branch.

1823.  Loudon, Encycl. Gardening, 808 Retain a competent supply of side-shoots, with a good leader to each mother-branch.

1880.  Jefferies, Gt. Estate, 89. The leaders of the black bryony … twist around each other.

1892.  Gardeners’ Chron., 27 Aug., 242/1. The trees are allowed to waste their energies in the formation of a plurality of leaders at the top.

  10.  A tendon. (Cf. guide, guider.)

1708.  J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 23. Cutting their Leaders and Nerves.

1737.  Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 22. What the common People call Leaders or Sinews.

1854.  Owen, Skel. & Teeth (1855), 3. The leaders of the leg-muscles in the turkey.

1891.  Daily News, 4 Sept., 3/7. In his second performance he severed one of the leaders of his thigh.

  11.  a. In agricultural drainage: A main drain. b. A tributary.

1844.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 9. One of the drains that enter the leader.

1853.  G. Johnston, Nat. Hist. E. Bord., I. 15. The leaders to these burns are, in some places, called sykes.

  12.  = LEADING ARTICLE 1.

1844.  Disraeli, Coningsby, II. vi. Give me a man who can write a leader.

1847.  R. P. Milnes, in T. W. Reid, Life Ld. Houghton (1891), I. ix. 401. You can get … a file of the Times, the commercial leaders of which you should get up.

1862.  Shirley, Nugæ Crit., xi. 482. He thought a page of Clarendon as pleasant historical reading as a leader in the Times.

1892.  B. Matthews, Americanisms & Brit., 22. An American … calls that an ‘editorial’ which the Englishman calls a ‘leader.’

  13.  Mining. a. A drain or stream that by its color indicates the presence of minerals. b. (See quot. 1846.) c. A small and insignificant vein, which leads to or indicates the proximity of a larger and better.

1809.  A. Henry, Trav., 231. A green-coloured water, which tinged iron of a copper-colour, issued from the hill; and this the miners called a leader.

1846.  Brockett, N. C. Words, Leader, a small band of coal connecting the portions of a coal-seam detached by a dyke, and following which, leads the miner to the seam again.

1855.  Cornwall, 95. Frequently the prevailing mineral runs continuously through the lode for considerable lengths and depths, forming what is called the leader.

1880.  C. C. Adley, Rep. Pioneer Mining Co., 2 Oct., 1. Two strong veins or leaders carrying copper ore have been crossed.

5 1890.  Goldfields Victoria, 16. The prospects of the mine have improved, two auriferous leaders having been cut.

1900.  Daily News, 19 June, 3/2. One or two tunnels had been drawn … on small leaders and … diamonds had been discovered.

  14.  Fireworks and Gunnery. A quick match enclosed in a paper tube for the purpose of conveying fire rapidly. Also attrib., as leader pipe (see quot.).

1859.  F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (1862), 60. Lay a leader of quick match along the bore. Ibid., 282.

1878.  Kentish, Pyrotechn. Treas., 103. Leader Pipes. These are for piping quickmatch.

  15.  Fishing. (U.S.) a. The end portion of a reel-line, consisting of gut, and having the snells of the fly-hooks attached to it; a casting-line.

1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., Leader, a length of finely twisted hair, gut, or grass, for attaching an angler’s hook to the line; a bottom. Called also a Snell.

1885.  H. P. Wells, in Harper’s Mag., April, 777/1. The flies are attached to a leader, or, as our English brethren term it, a casting-line.

  b.  ‘A net so placed as to intercept fish and lead them into a pound, weir, trap-net, etc.’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 1884).

  16.  Machinery. a. (See quots.)

1805.  Brewster, in Ferguson’s Lect., I. 82, note. In a combination of wheels that which is acted upon by the power, or by some other wheel is called a leader.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 21. When speaking of the action of wheel-work in general, the wheel which acts as a mover is called the leader, and the one upon which it acts the follower.

1895.  Mod. Steam Engine, 58. The wheels of a locomotive are called—1st, leaders or leading-wheels.

  b.  U.S. = leading block. c. ‘A principal furrow leading from the eye to the skirt of a mill-stone’ (1875 Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Millstone). d. ‘One of the long vertical timbers guiding the ram of a pile-driver car’ (Funk’s Stand. Dict.).

  17.  Printing. A line of dots or dashes to guide the eye in letterpress.

1824.  J. Johnson, Typogr., II. iii. 59. Full points are sometimes used as leaders in tables of contents.

1871.  Amer. Encycl. Printing (ed. Ringwalt), Leaders (. . . . or - - -), these consist of two or three dots, similar to full points, cast on one type, to the em body; there are also two or three em leaders, the number of dots being multiplied according to their length. Hyphen-faced leaders are also made (- - - -).

  18.  Sc. and U.S. A pipe to conduct water.

1875.  in Knight, Dict. Mech.

1890.  Lowson, Guidfollow, xix. 161. The name ‘Spout’ was derived from a spout, stroupe, or leader, that was inserted into the bank … leading the water which ran [etc.].

  19.  U.S. A guiding ring in an animal’s nose. (Cent. Dict.)

  20.  attrib. and Comb., as (sense 6 b) leader-mule; (sense 12) leader-column, -note, -writer.

1897.  Daily News, 3 June, 5/4. The problem set in our *leader columns the other day.

1890.  L. C. d’Oyle, Notches, 108. Not forgetting … to bestow an occasional cut upon the *leader-mules.

1888.  Besant, Inner House, 3. No news came. This was especially hard on the *leader-writers.