What is "rostra"

Rostrum \Ros"trum\ (-tr[u^]m), n.; pl. L. Rostra, E. Rostrums. [L., beak, ship's beak, fr. rodere, rosum, to gnaw. See Rodent.]

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. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. Any beaklike prolongation, esp. of the head of an animal, as the beak of birds.

   2. The beak, or sucking mouth parts, of Hemiptera.

   3. The snout of a gastropod mollusk. See Illust. of Littorina.

   4. 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.
   --Quincy.

7. (Surg.) A pair of forceps of various kinds, having a beaklike form. [Obs.]
   --Coxe.

Rostra \Ros"tra\, n. pl. See Rostrum, 2.

n. (plural of rostrum English)

1. n. a platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it [syn: dais, podium, pulpit, ambo, stump, soapbox]

2. beaklike projection of the anterior part of the head of certain insects such as e.g. weevils [syn: snout]

3. [also: rostra (pl)]

See rostrum

The Rostra was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between. It is often referred to as a suggestus or tribunal, the first form of which dates back to the Roman Kingdom, the Volcanal.

It derives its name from the six rostra (plural of rostrum, a warship's ram) which were captured during the victory at Antium in 338 BC and mounted to its side. Originally, the term meant a single structure located within the Comitium space near the Forum and usually associated with the Senate Cūria. It began to be referred to as the Rostra Vetera ("Elder Rostra") in the imperial age to distinguish it from other later platforms designed for similar purposes which took the name "Rostra" along with its builder's name or the person it honored.