nounWord forms: plural -trums or -tra (-trə)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 (sense 5)
4. the prow or beak of an ancient Roman ship
5. biology, zoology a beak or beaklike part
Word origin
C16: from Latin
rōstrum beak, ship's prow, from
rōdere to nibble, gnaw; in plural,
rōstra, orator's platform, because this platform in the Roman forum was adorned with theprows of captured ships