rostra

Noun

rostrum (plural rostra or rostrums)

1. A dais, pulpit, or similar platform for a speaker, conductor, or other performer.
   • He saw a crowd listening to a man who was talking from the rostrum of a kitchen-chair.1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 27, in Babbitt

   Synonyms:

   dais, pulpit

2. A platform for a film or television camera.
3. The projecting prow of a rowed warship, such as a trireme.
4. The beak.
5. The beak-shaped projection on the head of insects such as weevils.
   • I once saw two males fighting together; each had a fore-leg laid across the neck of the other, and the rostrum bent quite in an attitude of defiance, and looking most ridiculous. Another time, two were fighting for a female, who stood close by busy at her boring. They pushed at each other with...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 277
6. The snout of a dolphin.

See all 9 meanings of rostrum