1. (n.) A stage or elevated platform for public speaking\; the 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.

2. (n.) The beak or head of a ship.

3. (n.) Hence, a stage for public speaking; the pulpit or platform occupied by an orator or public speaker.

4. (n.) Any beaklike prolongation, esp. of the head of an animal, as the beak of birds.

5. (n.) The beak, or sucking mouth parts, of Hemiptera.

6. (n.) The snout of a gastropod mollusk.

7. (n.) The anterior, often spine like, prolongation of the carapace of a crustacean, as in the lobster and the prawn.

8. (n.) Same as Rostellum.

9. (n.) The pipe to convey the distilling liquor into its receiver in the common alembic.

10. (n.) A pair of forceps of various kinds, having a beaklike form.

ambo antlia balcony beak beezer bill bow bowsprit bugle catafalque conk dais desk emplacement estrade figurehead floor forecastle foredeck forepeak gallery heliport hustings jib boom landing landing pad landing stage launching pad lectern muffle muzzle nares neb nib nose nostrils nozzle olfactory organ pecker platform podium proboscis prore prow pulpit reading desk rhinarium schnozzle smeller snoot snout soapbox stage stand stem step terrace stump terrace tribunal tribune trunk