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.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI