pulpit

noun

Etymology: From Middle English pulpit, from Old French pulpite and Latin pulpitum (“platform”). Doublet of pulpitum and polypus. Piecewise doublet of polypod.

1. A raised platform in a church, sometimes enclosed, where the minister or preacher stands when giving the sermon; also, the lectern on such a platform.

   “Always, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, as in private conversation, there is an absolute simplicity about the man and his words; a simplicity, an earnestness, a complete honesty.”

   “[H]is `Amens' were ejected at the pulpit with the severity of a reprimand.”

2. Activity associated with or usually performed from a church pulpit; preaching, sermons, religious teaching.
3. The preaching profession, office, or role in general; the pastorate, the priesthood, the ministry.
4. Preachers collectively; clergy; the priesthood.
5. An individual or particular preaching position or role; a pastorate.

   “He seems like too timid a man to fill the pulpit at such a large church.”

6. Bully pulpit.
7. Any lectern, podium, dais, or platform for an orator or public speaker.
8. The railing at the bow of a boat, which sometimes extends past the deck; also called bow pulpit. The railing at the stern is sometimes called the stern pulpit or the pushpit.
9. A bow platform for harpooning.

   “[Hooper:] Will you just please go to the end of the pulpit! [Brody:] What for? [Hooper:] I need to have something in the foreground to give it some scale. [Brody:] Foreground, my ass!”

10. A plane's cockpit.

    “In the slang of the Royal Air Force man, the cockpit of his plane is the ‘pulpit’ or ‘office’, the glass covering over it the ‘greenhouse’.”