PRINCIPAL

Definitions

1. 1. A leader, chief, or head; one who takes the lead; one who acts independently, or who has controlling authority or influence; as, the principal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant.
2. 2. Hence: (Law)
3. 3. The chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, - - as distinguished from an accessory.
4. 4. A chief obligor, promisor, or debtor, -- as distinguished from a surety.
5. 5. One who employs another to act for him, -- as distinguished from an agent. Wharton. Bouvier. Burrill.
6. 6. A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous. Specifically:
7. 7. The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing. Spenser. J. H. Walsh.
8. 8. One of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned. Oxf. Gloss.
9. 9. A principal or essential point or rule; a principle. [Obs.]