a term applied to several persons whose offices are very different. The rector of a parish is a clergyman who has the charge and cure of a parish, and possesses all the titles, &c. The same name is also given to the chief elective officer in several foreign universities, particularly in that of Paris, and also in those of Scotland; and it is likewise applied to the head master of large schools in Scotland, as in the High School of Edinburgh. Rector is further used in several convents to indicate the superior officer who governs the house; and the Jesuits give this name to the superiors of such of their houses as are either seminaries or colleges.