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.

Noun

(en noun)

(countable) A firmly held belief.

(countable) A judgement of guilt in a court of law.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=Steven Morris , title=Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions . Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.}}

(uncountable) The state of being found or proved guilty.

(uncountable) The state of being convinced.

* 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Rickie Lambert's debut goal gives England victory over Scotland'' (in ''The Guardian , 14 August 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/14/england-scotland-international-friendly]

The visitors were being pinned back by the end of the first half. Yet Gordon Strachan's side played with great conviction and always had a chance of springing a surprise when their opponents were so susceptible at the back.