Noun

A being involved in the action of a story.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 26, author=Tasha Robinson, work=The Onion AV Club

, title= Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits , passage=But Pirates! comes with all the usual Aardman strengths intact, particularly the sense that its characters and creators alike are too good-hearted and sweet to nitpick. The ambition is all in the craft rather than in the storytelling, but it’s hard to say no to the proficiency of that craft, or the mild good cheer behind it. }}

A distinguishing feature; characteristic.

A complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person or a group.

* Motley

a man of thoroughly subservient character

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3 , passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}

Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.

He has a great deal of character .

A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.

Julius Caesar is a great historical character .

A written or printed symbol, or letter.

* Holder

It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye.

Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.

an inscription in the Runic character

* Shakespeare

You know the character to be your brother's?

(computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.

(informal) A person or individual, especially one who is unknown or raises suspicions.

(mathematics) A complex number representing an element of a finite Abelian group.

Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.

in the miserable character of a slave

in his character as a magistrate

(dated) The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.

a man's character for truth and veracity

Her actions give her a bad character .

* Addison

This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it.

(dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to his/her behaviour, competence, etc.

Noun

(finance, uncountable) The money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated.

A portion of your mortgage payment goes to reduce the principal , and the rest covers interest.

* 1902 , William Pember Reeves, State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand , Volume 1, 2011, Cambridge University Press, page 342,

In March 1902, I find in the statement of liabilities and assets £711 put down as arrears of interest, but there is no entry of arrears of principal .

* 2012 , Denis Clifford, Plan Your Estate , 11th Edition, NOLO, US, page 298,

For instance, in some states, dividends that have automatically been reinvested will be treated as principal .

* 2012 , Fred Steingold, Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business , page 88,

If you know the principal amount, the interest rate, and the number of years the payments will be made, you can consult an amortization calculator or schedule to arrive at the monthly payment.

(North America, Australia, New Zealand) The chief administrator of a school.

* 1971 , Louis Kaplan, Education and Mental Health , page 413,

The important administrative figure to the teacher is the school principal .

* 2008 , Brian Dive, The Accountable Leader: Developing Effective Leadership Through Managerial Accountability , page 212,

The problem was neatly summed up by one principal in Australia who said recently: ‘There is no incentive for me to develop my best teachers to become my successor.’

* 2009 , Colin J. Marsh, Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum , page 132,

Now renamed Teaching Australia, its officers are undertaking exploratory steps in developing professional standards for school leaders. A National Standards Drafting Group of volunteer principals' is currently drafting ' principal standards (Teaching Australia, 2007).

* 2011 , U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2011-2012 , page 45,

Principals are now being held more accountable for the performance of students and teachers, while at the same time they are required to adhere to a growing number of government regulations.

(UK, Scotland, Canada) The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.

* 1967 , University of Edinburgh Graduates? Association, University of Edinburgh Journal , Volumes 23-24, page 314,

Unlike the students, Principal' Robertson, who now resided almost alone in the College, continued to use the accistomed route on his visits to the Old Town; and it “became the joke of the day that from being the principal gate it had become only a gate for the ' Principal .”⁵

(legal) One who directs another (the agent) to act on one?s behalf.

''When an attorney represents a client, the client is the principal who permits the attorney, the client?s agent, to act on the client?s behalf.

* 1958 , American Law Institute. Restatement of the Law, Second: Agency 2d'', Volume 7 , page 533,

The firm admitted the amount owed, but averred as an affirmative defense that it had hired the expert as an agent of a disclosed principal , the client.

* 1966 , Pan American Union, The Marketing Structure for Selected Processed Food Products: In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, The Federal Republic of Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom , page 34,

A food broker has been defined as an independent sales agent who performs the services of negotiating the sale of food and/or grocery products for and on account of the seller as principal .

* 2009 , California Continuing Education of the Bar, California Probate Code , page 375,

An attorney-in-fact has a duty to act solely in yhe interest of the principal and to avoid conflicts of interest.

(legal) The primary participant in a crime.

* 1915 , Eugene Allen Gilmore, Wiliam Charles Wermuth, Modern American Law , page 125,

The accessories may be prosecuted, tried and punished, though the principal has not been prosecuted or has been acquitted.

A company represented by a salesperson.

My principal sells metal shims.

(senseid) (North America) A partner or owner of a business.

(music) A diapason, a type of organ stop on a pipe organ.

(architecture, engineering) The construction that gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron; or, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.

The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.

(Spenser)

One of the turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and centre of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned.

(obsolete) An essential point or rule; a principle.

A dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company.