rostrum

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a raised platform for a public speaker, conductor, or other prominent person

   The conductor stepped onto the rostrum and raised her baton.

2. 2
   noun

   a beaklike snout, projection, or mouthpart in an animal or plant

   The weevil uses its elongated rostrum to bore into seeds.

Simplified etymology

Rostrum was adopted in the mid-16th century from Latin rostrum “beak,” a word related to rodere “to gnaw.” Its sense “speaker’s platform” arose because the public platform in the Roman Forum was decorated with the beaklike prows of captured enemy warships.

A learned borrowing from Latin rostrum, 'beak or ship's prow,' related to rodere ('to gnaw'). The Roman Rostra, public speaking platforms in the Forum, were named for the captured ships' prows that decorated them. English then generalized the platform sense.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary