Ring"lead`er (?), n.

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.