leading

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of conducting or guiding; conduct; leadership; command.
• noun Ability to lead; commanding quality or capacity.
• noun A directing influence or guidance; especially, a spiritual indication of the proper course of action in any case: a term used by the Friends or Quakers.
• noun Lead-work; the leads, as of a house; articles of lead collectively.
• noun Milit., the clogging of the grooves of a rifle by lead from the bullets.
• Guiding; conducting; preceding; hence, serving as a precedent.
• Attracting; drawing: as, a leading article among shopkeepers (that is, something offered as a special inducement to customers, for its attractiveness or its cheapness, or both).
• Chief; principal; capital; most influential: as, a leading motive in action; a leading man in a party.
• In naval architecture, said of the edge or end of a surface or blade, as a propellerblade, which is in advance when moving through water: opposed to following.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of guiding, directing, governing, or enticing; guidance.
• noun Archaic Suggestion; hint; example.
• adjective Guiding; directing; controlling; foremost
• adjective (Law) a reported decision which has come to be regarded as settling the law of the question involved.
• adjective (Mus.) a guiding theme; in the musical drama of Wagner, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label. Also called leitmotif or leitmotiv.
• adjective (Mus.) the seventh note or tone in the ascending major scale; the sensible note.
• adjective a question so framed as to guide the person questioned in making his reply.
• adjective strings by which children are supported when beginning to walk.
• adjective to be in a state of infancy or dependence, or under the guidance of others.
• adjective a wheel situated before the driving wheels of a locomotive engine.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb Present participle of lead.
• adjective Providing guidance or direction.
• adjective Ranking first.
• adjective Occurring in advance; preceding.
• noun An act by which one is led or guided
• noun typography Vertical space added between lines; line spacing

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing
• adjective going or proceeding or going in advance; showing the way
• noun the activity of leading
• adjective greatest in importance or degree or significance or achievement
• adjective having the leading position or higher score in a contest
• adjective indicating the most important performer or role