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.

Noun

(en noun)

One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow.

A person or other entity who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-10

, author=Audrey Garric , title=Urban canopies let nature bloom , volume=188, issue=22, page=30 , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.}}

Some people will consider their national heroes to be pioneers of civilization.

Certain politicians can be considered as pioneers of reform.

(obsolete, military)   A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances; a sapper.

A member of any of several European organizations advocating abstinence from alcohol.

(Communism)   A child of 10–16 years in the former Soviet Union, in the second of the three stages in becoming a member of the Communist Party.