Noun

(en noun)

The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck.

* 1861 , , chapter XXXI:

Several old ladies forthwith proclaimed their intention of following him; but, as one or two of them were deaf, and another had been threatened with an attack of that mild, but obstinate complaint, dementia senilis, many thought it was not so much the force of his arguments as a kind of tendency to jump as the bellwether jumps, well known in flocks not included in the Christian fold.

Anything that indicates future trends.

A stock or bond that is widely believed to be an indicator of the overall market's condition.

Noun

(en noun)

Any person that s or directs.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01

, author=Philip E. Mirowski , title=Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits , volume=100, issue=1, page=87 , magazine= citation , passage=In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.}}

# One who goes first.

Follow the leader .

# One having authority to direct.

We elected her team leader .

# One who leads a political party or group of elected party members; sometimes used in titles.

# A person or organization that leads in a certain field in terms of excellence, success, etc.

The company is the leader in home remodeling in the county.

# (music) A performer who leads a band, choir, or a section of an orchestra.

# (music, UK) The first violin in a symphony orchestra; the concertmaster.

An animal that leads.

# The dominant animal in a pack of animals, such as wolves or lions.

#*

# An animal placed in advance of others, especially on a team of horse, oxen, or dogs.

#*

Something that leads or conducts.

# (botany) A fast-growing terminal shoot of a woody plant.

#*

# A pipe for conducting rain water from a roof to a cistern or to the ground.

# (UK) The first, or the principal, editorial article in a newspaper; a leading or main editorial article; a lead story.

# (fishing) A section of line between the main fishing line and the snell of a hook, intended to be more resistant to bites and harder for a fish to detect than the main fishing line.

# A piece of material at the beginning or end of a to allow the material to the threaded or fed onto something, as a reel of film onto a projector or a roll of paper onto a rotary printing press.

# (marketing) A loss leader or a popular product sold at a normal price.

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

# (printing, in the 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.

# (fishing) A net for leading fish into a pound, weir, etc.

#*

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

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

# (engineering) The drive wheel in any kind of machinery.