Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CON-DUCT'OR, n.

1. A leader; a guide; one who goes before or accompanies, and shows the way.
2. A chief; a commander; one who leads an army or a people.
3. A director; a manager. – Addison.
4. In surgery, an instrument which serves to direct the knife in cutting for the stone, and in laying up sinuses and fistulas; also, a machine to secure a fractured limb. – Coxe. Encyc.
5. In electrical experiments, any body that receives and communicates electricity; such as metals and moist substances. Bodies which repel it, or into which it will not pass, are called non-conductors. Hence,
6. A metallic rod erected by buildings or in ships, to conduct lightning to the earth or water, and protect the building from its effects.