rostrum

American  

[ros-truhm] / ˈrɒs trəm /

noun

plural

rostra, rostrums

1. any platform, stage, or the like, for public speaking.

   Synonyms:

   lectern, podium, dais, stand

2. a pulpit.

3. a beaklike projection from the prow of a ship, especially one on an ancient warship for ramming an enemy ship; beak; ram.

4. Roman Antiquity. (in the forum) the raised platform, adorned with the beaks of captured warships, from which orations, pleadings, etc., were delivered.

5. Biology. a beaklike process or extension of some part; rostellum.

6. British Theater. a raised platform or dais, especially one with hinged sides that can be folded and stored within a relatively small space.

---

rostrum British  

/ ˈrɒstrəm /

noun

1. any platform, stage, or dais on which public speakers stand to address an audience

2. a platform or dais in front of an orchestra on which the conductor stands

3. another word for ram

4. the prow or beak of an ancient Roman ship

5. biology zoology a beak or beaklike part

---

Usage

What does rostrum mean? Rostrum most commonly means a kind of platform for public speaking. Close synonyms are podium and lectern. A pulpit can also be called a rostrum. Rostrum also has a few very different meanings. In biology, a rostrum is a beak or beaklike part. This sense of the word was extended to refer to the beaklike projection on the prow of a ship, especially one on an ancient Roman warship that was used for ramming enemy ships. The ancient Romans sometimes decorated columns and platforms with the rostrums of captured ships (or with representations of them). This led to the use of the word rostrum to refer to a speaking platform. The adjective rostral can be used to describe such columns (called rostral columns). Rostral is also used in the context of anatomy, especially of animals, to describe things that have or resemble a beak or snout. The correct plural form of rostrum can be rostrums or rostra. Example: I’m always nervous before a big speech, but I become calm as soon as I step onto the rostrum.

Etymology

Origin of rostrum

1570–80; < Latin rōstrum snout, bill, beak of a bird, ship's prow (in plural, speaker's platform), equivalent to rōd ( ere ) to gnaw, bite ( cf. rodent) + -trum instrumental suffix, with dt > st

Explanation

You've probably listened to speakers who stood on a raised platform, or watched the winners in sports competitions step up onto a platform to accept their awards. The platform they're standing on is called a rostrum. Rostrum, originally "animal snout or bird's beak" in Latin, has a back-and-forth history. The word came to be used for the battering beak at a warship’s bow. The ancient Romans used beaks from captured ships to decorate a platform from which orators could speak, called the rostra, the plural of rostrum. In the mid-17th century, rostrum came to mean a platform for speeches, performances, or receiving awards. By the way, the plural of rostrum is still rostra.

Example Sentences

The first mixtape released under Rostrum, “K.I.D.S.,” blew up.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 9, 2018

In 2010, having netted a few viral hits, he signed a four-year contract with Rostrum Records.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 9, 2018

Then, in the 1980s, Peter Croft made a one-day ascent of Yosemite’s Astroman and the Rostrum that at the time was the hardest free-solo ever done.

From New York Times • Mar. 12, 2015

Meredith Rostrum is a painter that uses her own body as a canvas, rather like a cross between Jackson Pollock and Veruschka; she explains her instinctual style of painting as Rankin snaps away.

From The Guardian • Aug. 16, 2010

Lee Rostrum smoothed his ditto out on the desk.

From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt

Related Words

• dais
• lectern
• podium