general term indicating the office of various political-administrative posts occupied by Venetian patricians It was generally interchangeable with podestà
The chief elective officer of some universities, as in France and Scotland; sometimes, the head of a college; as, the Rector of Exeter College, or of Lincoln College, at Oxford
The priest in charge of a parish, a self-supporting church, is the rector The rector is elected by the vestry Assisting priests the rector appoints may be called curate, assistant or associate