ringleadingn.
/ˈrɪŋˌliːdɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈrɪŋˌlidɪŋ/ The action or fact of being a ringleader; leadership in an action or enterprise, esp. a mutiny, uprising, demonstration, or plot.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > control > [noun] > leading > as chief leader
ringleading1570
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 1/2 The church of Rome..hath chalenged to it self the supreme title, iurisdiction, and ringleading of the whole vniuersal church on earth.
1859 W. Wilson Pop. Preachers of Anc. Church 24 They speedily brought on a crisis by seceding under the ringleading of Felicissimus, who threatened to excommunicate all who should obey the bishop.
1906 M. Müller Reminisc. Roving Life i. 9 My memory is not clear as to what crime was to be punished by this archaic method, but I fancy it was something to do with ringleading in treasonable acts.
1986 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 58 S97 Unrest in the smaller territories of the imperial counts and prelates, and in the lordships of the freeholding nobles and cloisters, scrupulously avoided actions that legally constituted ‘ringleading’..and ‘conspiracy’.
1998 Independent (Nexis) 22 June 19 His ringleading of eight Davis Cup triumphs made their country also supreme.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
ringleadingadj.
/ˈrɪŋˌliːdɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈrɪŋˌlidɪŋ/ Acting as or being a ringleader; taking the lead in an action or enterprise, esp. a mutiny, uprising, demonstration, or plot.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > motivation > [adjective] > inciting or instigating > in something reprehensible
ringleading1624
1624 J. Gee Hold Fast 38 The greater is the guiltinesse of their ringleading Masters.
1661 J. Davies Civil Warres 371 Take away the commissions of nine of the ringleading officers.
a1688 J. Bunyan Life & Death Mr. Badman (1905) 21 He used to be the Ringleading Sinner, or the Master of mischief among other children.
1768 Ld. Camden in G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. (1876) IV. xxxv. 104 Boston is the ringleading province; and..the punishment ought to be levelled there.
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam I. 73 The ring-leading negroes were roasted alive by half dozens.
1848 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 580/1 The city of Nauvoo was taken, Joe Smith and other ringleading prophets captured.
1862 Knickerbocker Apr. 399 Have we not read in some work of a certain turbulent ring-leading prisoner in a Spanish lock-up, who made ‘no end’ of trouble?
1904 L. Hutton Literary Landmarks of Sc. Universities 88 The ring-leading students were expelled, and otherwise punished by the Masters.
1955 Times 20 Aug. 7/4 He was a Red Indian chief, a ring-leading pirate, or, alternatively, an admiral trying vainly to sweep our Skull and Crossbones off the seas.
2006 Moscow News (Nexis) 19 May 18 The ringleading babushka was still there, unwisely, taking all the rightly-deserved jeers that she could before too fleeing the crime scene.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1570adj.1624