1. (a.) Highest in rank, authority, character, importance\, or degree; most considerable or important; chief; main; as, the principal officers of a Government; the principal men of a state; the principal productions of a country; the principal arguments in a case.

2. (a.) of or pertaining to a prince; princely.

3. (n.) A leader, chief, or head; one who takes the lead; one who acts independently, or who has controlling authority or influence; as, the principal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant.

4. (n.) The chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, -- as distinguished from an accessory.

5. (n.) A chief obligor, promisor, or debtor, -- as distinguished from a surety.

6. (n.) One who employs another to act for him, -- as distinguished from an agent.

7. (n.) A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous.

8. (n.) A capital sum of money, placed out at interest, due as a debt or used as a fund; -- so called in distinction from interest or profit.

9. (n.) The construction which gives shape and strength to a roof, -- generally a truss of timber or iron, but there are roofs with stone principals. Also, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.

10. (n.) In English organs the chief open metallic stop, an octave above the open diapason. On the manual it is four feet long, on the pedal eight feet. In Germany this term corresponds to the English open diapason.

11. (n.) A heirloom; a mortuary.

12. (n.) The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.

13. (n.) One of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned.

14. (n.) A principal or essential point or rule; a principle.

A per se English horn academic dean ace administration administrator all-absorbing arch assets backing banner bassoon block flute bombard boss bourdon capital capital gains distribution capital structure capitalization cardinal cash reserves cello central chairman champion chancellor chief chief executive officer circulating capital claribel clarinet clarion commander concert flute controlling cornet cornopean corpus cromorna crowning cymbel danseur noble dean dean of men dean of women diapason director diva dominant doyen doyenne dulciana electronics king equity capital feature attraction first first tragedian fixed capital floating capital flute stop focal foremost foundation stop fourniture front fugleman fund gamba gedeckt gemshorn genius great harmonic flute head headliner headmaster headmistress headmost heavy lead hegemonic hero heroine high priest higher-up highest honcho hybrid stop important important person investment jeune premier key king kingfish kingpin koppel flute larigot laureate lead leader leading leading lady leading light leading man luminary magisterial maiden main major managing director master master spirit melodia mixture money moneyed capital mutation stop nazard nonpareil oboe octave organ stop outstanding overriding overruling owner paragon paramount personage piccolo plein jeu posaune predominant preeminent premier preponderant president prevailing prima ballerina prima donna primal primary prime prodigy prominent proprietor protagonist provost quint quintaten rank ranket ranking rector reed stop register resources rohr flute ruler ruling senior sesquialtera shawm singer sovereign spitz flute star starring stellar stop stopped diapason stopped flute string diapason string stop supereminent superintendent superior superman superstar supervisor supreme the greatest the most tierce top dog topflight topmost tremolo trombone trumpet twelfth unda maris uppermost venture capital vibrato vice-chancellor viola virtuoso voix celeste vox angelica vox humana working capital