REC'TOR, noun [Latin rector from rego, rectum, to rule.]

1. A ruler or governor.

God is the supreme rector of the world.

[This application of the word is unusual.]

2. A clergyman who has the charge and cure of a parish, and has the tithes, etc.; or the parson of an unimpropriated parish.

3. The chief elective officer of some universities, as in France and Scotland. The same title was formerly given to the president of a college in New England, but it is now in disuse. In Scotland, it is still the title of the head master of a principal school.

4. 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.