Emily Dickinson Lexicon

REC'TOR, n. [L. rector, from rego, rectum, to rule; Fr. recteur; It. rettore.]

1. A ruler or governor. God is the supreme rector of the world. – Hale. [This application of the word is unusual.]
2. A clergyman who has the charge and cure of a parish and has the tithes, &c.; or the parson of an unimpropriated parish. – Blackstone.
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. – Encyc.