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. | 
