noun the beak or head of a ship.
2. rostrum ·noun the beak, or sucking mouth parts, of hemiptera.
3. rostrum ·noun ·same·as rostellum.
4. rostrum ·noun a pair of forceps of various kinds, having a beaklike form.
5. rostrum ·noun the snout of a gastropod mollusk. ·see ·illust. of littorina.
6. rostrum ·noun any beaklike prolongation, ·esp. of the head of an animal, as the beak of birds.
7. rostrum ·noun the pipe to convey the distilling liquor into its receiver in the common alembic.
8. rostrum ·noun hence, a stage for public speaking; the pulpit or platform occupied by an orator or public speaker.
9. rostrum ·noun the anterior, often spinelike, prolongation of the carapace of a crustacean, as in the lobster and the prawn.
10. rostrum ·noun 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.