ringleader Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person who leads (especially in illicit activities)

WordNet

Ring"lead`er noun
Definitions
  1. The leader of a circle of dancers; hence, the leader of a number of persons acting together; the leader of a herd of animals.
    A primacy of order, such an one as the ringleader hath in a dance. Barrow.
  2. Opprobriously, a leader of a body of men engaged in the violation of law or in an illegal enterprise, as rioters, mutineers, or the like.
    The ringleaders were apprehended, tried, fined, and imprisoned. Macaulay.

Webster 1913