n. One who reads or pronounces lectures; a professor or other instructor who delivers formal discourses for the instruction of others.n. In the Ch. of Eng., one of a class of preachers not rectors, vicars, or curates, chosen in some parishes by the vestry or chief inhabitants of the parish, with the consent of the incumbent, and supported by voluntary subscriptions and legacies.n. In English and American colonial history, a person appointed by municipal or parish authority to deliver a periodical lecture, usually on Sundays or market-days.