rector Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a person authorized to conduct religious worship
curate; pastor; minister; minister of religion; parson.
- clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches

L., fr. regere, rectum, to lead straight, to rule: cf. F. recteur. See Regiment, Right.

A ruler or governor.R.
God is the supreme rector of the world. Sir M. Hale.
(a) (Ch. of Eng.) A clergyman who has the charge and cure of a parish, and has the tithes, etc.; the clergyman of a parish where the tithes are not impropriate. See the Note under Vicar. Blackstone. (b) (Prot. Epis. Ch.) A clergyman in charge of a parish.
The head master of a public school. Scot.
The chief elective officer of some universities, as in France and Scotland; sometimes, the head of a college; as, the Rector of Exeter College, or of Lincoln College, at Oxford.
(R.C.CH.) The superior officer or chief of a convent or religious house; and among the Jesuits the superior of a house that is a seminary or college.