Definition of rector

• n. - A ruler or governor.
• n. - 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.
• n. - A clergyman in charge of a parish.
• n. - The head master of a public school.
• n. - 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.
• n. - 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.