DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Ros·trum n.; pl. L. Rostra E. Rostrums
 1. The beak or head of a ship.
 2. pl. (Rostra) Rom. Antiq. The Beaks; the stage or platform in the forum where orations, pleadings, funeral harangues, etc., were delivered; -- so called because after the Latin war, it was adorned with the beaks of captured vessels; later, applied also to other platforms erected in Rome for the use of public orators.
 3. Hence, a stage for public speaking; the pulpit or platform occupied by an orator or public speaker.
    Myself will mount the rostrum in his favor.   --Addison.
 4. Zool. (a) Any beaklike prolongation, esp. of the head of an animal, as the beak of birds. (b) The beak, or sucking mouth parts, of Hemiptera. (c) The snout of a gastropod mollusk. See Illust. of Littorina. (d) The anterior, often spinelike, prolongation of the carapace of a crustacean, as in the lobster and the prawn.
 5. Bot. Same as Rostellum.
 6. Old Chem. The pipe to convey the distilling liquor into its receiver in the common alembic.
 7. Surg. A pair of forceps of various kinds, having a beaklike form. [Obs.]
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