rostrumn.
/ˈrɒstrəm/, U.S. /ˈrɔstrəm/, /ˈrɑstrəm/ I. A platform, and related uses.
1. Roman History. (The name for) the platform or stand for public speakers in the Forum of ancient Rome, decorated with the beakheads of captured warships (originally, those taken at the Battle of Antium in 338 b.c.); that part of the Forum in which the platform was situated. Chiefly with capital initial. See sense 4a.The Rostrum was originally on the south side of the Forum's Comitium. After 42 b.c. it was rebuilt on the north-west side of the Forum.
a. In plural.
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the mind > language > speech > speech-making > [noun] > platform or stand > in ancient Rome or Greece
rostrum1542
rostrum1571
bema1820
society > education > place of education > educational buildings > [noun] > lecture room > platform in
rostrum1542
dais1888
1540 J. Palsgrave tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus sig. L iv Ho, go we to the place where moste people doo assemble (whiche they of the citie of Rome callid Rostra, the fore partes of shippes).]
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes ii. f. 315v The place called Rostra (where oracions wer made to the people).
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 937 Antonius..commaunded his head and his hands should straight be set vp ouer the pulpit for Orations, in the place called Rostra.
1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales v. ii. 117 She was praised in a funerall oration before the Rostra, by C. Caesar.
1647 R. Stapleton tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 61 The city of Rome had four great forums or piazzas, 1. Forum Romanum or vetus, wherein was the comitium or hall of justice, the rostra or pulpits for orations [etc.].
1741 C. Middleton Hist. Life Cicero I. v. 393 Before they met, he called the people likewise to the Rostra.
1765 T. Smollett Trav. (1766) II. 128 Their rostra were generally adorned with the heads of some remarkable citizens.
1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 176/1 The rostra was between the Comitium, or place of assembly for the Curiæ, and the Forum, properly so called, or place of assembly for the Comitia Tributa.
1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar xv. 241 Pompey came forward on the Rostra to speak.
1924 Classical Jrnl. 19 327 In the Forum at Rome there was the milliariam aureum, or golden milestone. This was erected by Augustus near the Rostra.
1964 Classical Rev. 14 346/2 He lost his head, which was nailed to the Rostra, when Marius marched on Rome in 87.
2001 H. Mouritsen Plebs & Politics ii. 18 To the south were located the speaker's platform, the Rostra, and the platform reserved for foreign embassies, the Graecostasis.
b. In singular. Also applied to the orators' stand in the Athenian assembly.
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the mind > language > speech > speech-making > [noun] > platform or stand > in ancient Rome or Greece
rostrum1542
rostrum1571
bema1820
1571 R. Reynolds Chron. Noble Emperours f.16 Cicero..was murthered in the monthe of Ianuary.., his head beinge cut of, with his righte hande, and put vppon the place of pleadinge which was called Rostrum.
1614 A. Gorges tr. Lucan Pharsalia iv. 164 Rome neuer bred a greater wit, That did within the Rostrum sit.
1658 T. Flatman Naps upon Parnassus sig. D 5 I speak him faintly, si'th I am not fed With th' Pamper'd Air, that Rome's vast Rostrum bred.
1713 J. Addison Cato ii. ii Myself will mount the Rostrum in his favour.
1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 185 What a glorious, what a consistent figure, must Swift have made in the rostrum at Rome.
1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives II. 38 When he came down from the rostrum, the women paid their respects to him.
1819 Edinb. Mag. & Literary Misc. June 544/2 One of these strange reveries seized me, and the pulpit became the rostrum of Athens, the people in the pews around me were garbed after the Athenian fashion.
1850 G. Grote Hist. Greece VII. ii. lvi. 145 Hyperbolus is named by Aristophanes as having succeeded Kleon in the mastership of the rostrum in the Pnyx.
1927 G. Atherton Immortal Marriage ii. xxxviii. 308 As the occasion was a solemn one there was no cheering as he [sc. Pericles] stepped down from the rostrum.
1963 P. Hilty tr. J. Burckhardt Hist. Greek Culture xiv. 295 In contrast to the measured demeanor of Pericles or Antiphon, Cleon raved up and down the rostrum, throwing aside his mantle and clapping himself on the hips.
2005 J. Heath Talking Greeks iv. 177 Any citizen could ascend the speaker's rostrum.
2.
a. More generally: any platform, stage, or similar structure adapted for public speaking; (subsequently also) one used for some other public purpose, as by a conductor at a musical performance; a podium. Also in extended use.Often in plural in early use.
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the mind > language > speech > speech-making > [noun] > platform or stand
pulpita1387
pew1558
rostrum1652
stump1775
platform1817
stand1829
soap-box1907
paepae1937
1652 Mercurius Pragmaticus No. 3. 20 The deposed Tub tearers would fain be banging their hypocritical rostrums again, where they may rail by Authority.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1669 (1955) III. 532 There follow'd divers Panegyric Speeches both in Prose & Verse interchangeably pronounc'd by the young students, plac'd in the Rostrum.
1766 T. Clap Ann. Yale-Coll. 77 It is built of Brick,..with a Steeple and Galleries, in which are three Rostra for Orations, Disputations, &c.
1776 H. Walpole Let. 17 Dec. (1965) XXXII. 336 For want of Parliament General Burgoyne is..making an oration from the rostrum to the citizens of Westminster.
1813 Examiner 29 Mar. 198/2 From the old rostrum, he harangued the populace.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxxix. 160 Mr. Tappertit mounted on an empty cask which stood by way of rostrum in the room.
1886 J. R. Lowell Democracy (1887) 11 This age of publicity, where the newspapers offer a rostrum to whoever has a grievance, or fancies that he has.
1927 Amer. Hist. Rev. 32 741 The tri-color, now without allies, and often flanked by the symbolic pike, was furled behind the rostrum.
1947 Penguin Music Mag. 4 44 The maestros on the rostrum.
2001 Times 8 June ii. 7/1 After a while, George Melly, in a candy-striped suit, got on to the rostrum and announced that Richard Deacon had won the Turner Prize.
b. In extended use: a platform as a place from which to express one's views; the platform as an institution.
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the mind > language > speech > speech-making > [noun]
declamation1552
public speaking1587
oratory1594
orationing1633
speeching1664
rostrum1690
speech-making1718
speechifying1723
speakinga1763
speechification1825
platforming1892
peroratory1903
1690 D. Jones Serm. at Christ-Church 6 To turn the Church into a Theatre, and the Pulpit into a Rostrum.
1873 C. M. Davies Unorthodox London (1876) 100 Though mounted withal on the rostrum of Nonconformity.
1883 J. G. Whittier Our Country 43 Free press and rostrum, church and school.
1967 R. P. Basler Short Hist. Amer. Civil War iii. 44 The sessions of the lame-duck Congress merely provided a rostrum for seceding senators and representatives to declare their valedictories.
2002 Y. Govrin Israeli-Romanian Relations at End of Ceauşescu Era v. 251 In Bucharest the Coral Synagogue served Rabbi Rosen as a rostrum for his sermons on interpreting the Torah readings.
c. spec. A pulpit.
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society > faith > artefacts > furniture > lectern or pulpit > [noun]
lecternc1325
pulpitc1390
desk1449
stage1483
anabathur1623
oratorio1631
ambo1641
tub1644
chair1649
anabathrum1658
minbar1682
ambon1683
hand board1734
rostrum1755
tub-pulpita1791
lutrin1837
prayer desk1843
wood1854
praying desk1906
1755 C. Charke Narr. Life 203 Hearing the Gospel turned topsy-turvy by those, who really are as ignorant of it as the Rostrum they stand in.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality ii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 41 As the worthy divine..was advancing towards the rostrum.
1936 Harper's Mag. Apr. 573/1 The preacher or orator whose message is canned beforehand never reaches the emotional heights of persuasion that his ‘ad libbing’ brother does on a rival rostrum.
1992 L. Glinert Joys of Hebrew 25 Every Sabbath, on the synagogue rostrum, he has to open a Torah scroll..and read it fluently, clearly, and musically.
d. Theatre. A removable platform or stand, as a stage property.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > stage > [noun] > platform
podium1899
rostrum1907
riser1945
1907 W. Archer & H. G. Barker National Theatre 72 Waste would be reduced to a minimum by the plan of building to certain standard proportions every piece of scenery and every ‘rostrum’ or other structure used on the stage.
1930 W. G. Fay Short Gloss. Theatr. Terms 17 When it is necessary to use a rostrum to get elevation on the stage it is generally concealed behind a ground row.
1951 Oxf. Compan. Theatre 678/1 Rostrum, any platform, from a small dais for a throne to a vast battlement, placed on the stage. It is usually made with a removable top and hinged sides, to fold flat for packing. It is reached by steps or a ramp, and quitted off-stage by ‘lead-off’ steps.
1999 Amateur Stage July 11/1 We used rostra right across the back of the stage on two levels and silver slash curtains behind.
e. Film and Television. A platform on or above which a camera is mounted; spec. a framework which supports a camera at a set distance from an object or image to be filmed, used esp. in the production of animated sequences and the superposition of titles. See also rostrum camera n. at Compounds 2.
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society > communication > broadcasting > television > production of television broadcast > [noun] > camera movement
boom1931
rostrum1935
tilting1938
tilt1959
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > filming > filming equipment > [noun] > camera > support for
boom1931
rostrum1935
crane1937
pan head1940
1935 Winnipeg Free Press 3 Aug. 10/5 The cameras for the long shots were mounted on great rostrums far above the roof tops.
1951 J. Halas & B. Privett How to cartoon for Amateur Films 105 Let's leave the camera on one side for the moment and consider the rostrum. That is the frame on which the camera and the board which holds the animation drawings are mounted.
1959 J. Halas & R. Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 235 Such scenes as night bombing, wrecked aircraft, submarines under water and flying through cloud were done with one or two drawings, a little wood-carving, cotton-wool and the full use of single and multiplane shooting on the animation rostrum.
1999 J. M. Welsh & J. C. Tibbetts Cinema of Tony Richardson ii. 42 The camera was on a high rostrum looking down a valley and beyond.
2004 R. Angell Getting into Films & Television (ed. 8) v. 126 The rostrum is usually vertically mounted and has to be built in to rock steady foundations.
II. A beak-like process or projection.† 3. Technical uses.
a. The nose or spout of a still, alembic, or similar apparatus; = beak n.1 10. Obsolete.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > still > [noun] > other parts of still
bucket1594
shank1600
bolt-head1612
rostrum1654
glass-belly1681
still-head1694
condenser1874
1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana i. iv. 26 When the Water by incalescence rarefied into vapours, issues out..through the slender perforation or exile outlet of its [sc. an aeolipyle's] rostrum.., how can the same Capacity still remain full?
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall viii. 64 The Rostrum or Nose of it..was Hermetically closed.
1727 S. Hales Veg. Staticks i. 50 I put also a large Sun-flower full blown, and as it was growing, into the head of a glass-still, and put its rostrum into a bottle.
1748 R. Poole Chymical Vade Mecum 128 The Liquor may be immediately receiv'd into a proper Vessel as it falls from the Rostrum of the Still Head.
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. I. 254/2 Beak, the rostrum of an alembic which conducts the vapor to the worm.
b. The nozzle of a pair of bellows. Obsolete.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > metalworking equipment > [noun] > forging equipment > bellows > parts of
tew-iron1399
rock-staff1561
basis1669
twire-pipe1674
rocker1678
tewel1678
wind-hole1688
wind-sucker1688
rostrum1706
muzzle1726
tuyere1781
stirrup1843
hinge1852
tue1883
1706 E. Baynard Cold Baths in J. Floyer Hist. Cold Bathing (ed. 2) ii. 49 Bellows to draw the Aereal Niter in at the Valve or Clack,..which closing by the Pressure of the Hand, squeezeth it out of the Rostrum or Nose.
c. A type of surgical scissors or forceps with curved or asymmetrical blades thought to resemble a bird's beak. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical instruments > [noun] > forceps
tenaclesc1400
tongsc1425
raven's bill1446
parrotbill1598
duck's bill1601
swan's bill1631
forceps1634
beaks1656
volsella1684
tenaculum1693
rostrum1722
crane's-bill1753
porte-aiguille1830
volsellum1851
vulsellum1863
iris-forceps1874
speculum forceps1875
bulldog forceps1880
1588 W. Clowes Prooued Pract. Young Chirurgians 92 A Dilatorium to open a wound, that a Darthead, Arrowhead, or bullet, may the better be taken out, with a Rostrum Coruinum, or Rauens bill, or with a Rostrum Anatinum, or Ducks bill, or with a Rostrum Gruinum, fashioned like a Storcks bill, or Cranes bill.]
1722 J. Quincy Lexicon Physico-medicum (ed. 2) 386 Rostrum, is used..also for a crooked Scissars which the Surgeons in some Cases make use of for the Dilatation of Wounds.
1845 R. Dunglison Med. Lexicon (ed. 5) 626/1 Rostrum,..a name given to several old forceps, on account of their resemblance to the beak of different birds.
d. Music. A device for ruling music paper. Cf. rastrum n. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun] > equipment for writing music
manuscript book1593
music paper1648
rostrum1740
scoring-paper1840
1740 J. Grassineau tr. S. De Brossard Musical Dict. 205 Rostrum, is the name of an instrument wherewith they rule paper for musical compositions [Fr. Rostrum, instrument qui sert à regler soi-même du papier pour la Musique].
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word) Rostrum is also used to signify an instrument wherewith paper is ruled for musical compositions.
1829 A. Jamieson Dict. Mech. Sci. II. 900/2 Rostrum is also used to designate an instrument with which paper is ruled for musical compositions.
4. † b. In extended use: a warship. Obsolete. rare.
a. Roman History. A beak-like projection from the prow of a warship; = beak-head n. 1a. Also in extended use.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > fore part of vessel > [noun] > any part in front of stem > beak of galley
hornc1275
snouta1387
beak1550
spurn1553
beak-head1579
spur1604
rostrum1659
1600 P. Holland in tr. Livy Rom. Hist. 2nd Index Rostra, were three-tined pikes of brasse, set in the nose or beak-head of war-ships to offend the enimie..and thereupon by Synecdoche, the stemmes of ships were so called.]
1659 H. Hammond Paraphr. & Annot. New Test. (ed. 2) xxix. 435/1 The signe of the ship, being set upon the rostrum of it (which was made of brasse) was a Tigre, and so the ship was called.
1674 J. Evelyn Navigation & Commerce 19 The Thasii added Decks; Pisæus the Rostrum or Beak-head.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 14 An old Rostrum of a Roman Ship, that stands over the Door of their Arsenal.
1781 M. J. Armstrong Hist. & Antiq. Norfolk VII. 24 The reverse is Fortune holding a Cornucopia, standing on the rostrum of a ship.
1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 176/1 It pointed towards the Comitium, and the rostra were affixed to the front of it, just under the arches.
1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur iii. i. 136 Below the bow, fixed to the keel, and projecting forward under the water-line, was the rostrum, or beak..used as a ram.
1924 Jrnl. Egyptian Archaeol. 10 46 It consists of a number of strips of palm-fibre lashed together and prolonged into a rostrum rising slightly above horizontal level at the prow, and bending sharply upwards at the stern.
1975 P. T. Eden Comm. on Virgil 184 The rostrum, ‘beak’, was basically a beam projecting below the prow and above the waterline.
2004 S. G. Newman Discovery 38 The Roman galley was totally vulnerable as the iron rostrum, or sharp pointed ram at the bow of the pirate ship, plowed deeply into its side.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun]
great shipa1400
ship-of-war1479
man-of-war1484
warship1533
war-man1546
rostrum1782
U.S.S.a1912
warcraft1918
tin can1937
1782 H. Walpole Let. 18 May (1904) XII. 251 To-day we hear that Sir George Rodney has defeated—ay, and taken—Monsieur de Grasse in his own ship... These naval rostra arrived very opportunely to stay our impatience for a victory over the Dutch.
5. Zoology and Anatomy.
a. A beak or snout; an oral apparatus with an elongated shape.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > head and neck > [noun] > snout > beak
billa1000
peakc1450
rostrum1677
beak1822
1677 J. Webster Displaying Supposed Witchcraft x. 214 It is no small wonder to observe our ordinary Gallus Turcicus vel Gallopavus,..how will..the appendicle that comes over the bill or rostrum, be extended or contracted at the pleasure of the animal.
1717 Philos. Trans. 1714–16 (Royal Soc.) 29 536 Dr. Grew argues for this Movement [sc. of the upper jaw in the flamingo] from the peculiar Structure of the Rostrum.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word) The rostrum or snout in fishes varies very much in figure.
1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 303 A sucker or siphon,..in the form of an acute inarticulated rostrum,..fulfils the functions of a mouth.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man I. viii. 255 In some weevil-beetles there is a great difference between the male and female in the length of the rostrum or snout.
1931 E. G. Boulenger Fishes iv. 53 The well-known Saw-fishes..with the snout exaggerated into a long, flat, oblong-shaped rostrum.
1982 R. Sharell N.Z. Insects 104 The male giraffe beetle has under its long rostrum a row of rather long hairs like a brush.
b. A projection or extension resembling a beak or snout (e.g. on a shell, a bone, a crustacean carapace, etc.).
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the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > projection or protuberance > [noun] > pointed projection
tongue1398
jag1578
mucro1646
spur1681
rostruma1728
spicula1753
spikelet1851
lingula1856
mucronation1862
cusp1879
mucronule1890
a1728 J. Woodward Attempt Nat. Hist. Fossils Eng. (1729) I. 50 These have no Rostrum, but were found in Shells of the same Species with the precedent.
1815 E. J. Burrow Elements Conchol. 33 Cauda, rostrum or beak; the elongated bases of the belly, lips and columella.
1828 R. Knox tr. H. Cloquet Syst. Human Anat. 36 This surface..presents on the median line a ridge, (rostrum,) more prominent before than behind.
1878 L. Holden Human Osteol. (ed. 5) 79 The rostrum of the sphenoid would fit into the gap between them.
1939 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 230 89 The shell of Nuculana minuta..has a pronounced posterior rostrum.
1976 Ecology 57 570 The crab's shield length (the distance from the tip of the rostrum to the cervical suture) was measured to the nearest 0.1 mm.
1999 J. E. Winston Describing Species iii. 61 The four species [of shrimp] they studied showed..tiny differences in rostrum shape.
6. Botany. A beak-shaped projection, e.g. on a seed or seed capsule.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > part defined by form or function > [noun] > horn- or beak-like part
peakc1450
horn1776
rostrum1818
beak1820
1818 T. Nuttall Genera N. Amer. Plants I. 150 Viola..canadensis. Style short, compressed, stigma capitate, without rostrum, on either side somewhat pubescent.
1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 176/2 Rostrum, a botanical term applied to any rigid prolongation of remarkable length, or to any additional process at the end of any of the parts of a plant.
1863 Floral World Sept. 198 The blooms..are very small, and almost every flower produces a rostrum, or say a spike of seed.
1921 Bot. Gaz. 71 170 The beak or rostrum and the ostiole are here seen in the earliest stages of their development.
1995 Systematic Bot. 20 362 (heading) Rostrum differentiated, short to long, slender.
Compounds
C1. (In sense 5.)
rostrum-bearing adj.
ΚΠ
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxxiv. 514 The Rhynchophorous or rostrum-bearing beetles.
1942 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 231 259 Their position corresponds in general with that of the labial palps of a rostrum-bearing member of the Curculionidae.
2007 L. A. Doguzhaeva et al. in N. H. Landman et al. Cephalopods Present & Past vi. 139 Flower and Gordon..discovered an extensive Early Carboniferous collection of rostrum-bearing coleoids.
C2.
rostrum camera n. Film and Television a camera which is used for filming on a rostrum (sense 2e) and has the capacity for the precise and repeated exposure of individual frames, used esp. in the production of animated sequences.
ΚΠ
1959 J. Halas & R. Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 235 Rostrum camera, apparatus for producing an image on cine-film. Its minimum requirements for animation work are that it must be capable of exposing one frame or film at a time when required.
1970 K. Roberts Inner Wheel ii. 114 In this way I learned the rudiments of animation and layout work, rostrum camera operation, cutting, dubbing and the host of other skills that make up..the art of the moving picture.
2006 S. Gross in T. Jeffrey Film Business (ed. 3) iii. 25 All of the elements are layered on top of one another, with the background on the very bottom so that it can be seen through the clear gels. The composition is then shot on a rostrum camera.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1542- longplaying
- longpod
- longpodded
- longpossessed
- longpriced
- longprojected
- longpromised
- longprotended
- longprotracted
- longputoff
- longquantity
- longquartered
- longrange
- longresounding
- longribbed
- longridged
- longrobe man
- longrobed
- longroofed
- longrooted
- longrooted rape
- longrope
- longrunning
- longs
- longs and shorts