| 04/08/09 10:23 PM |
#685
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Lisa Cerri
To all who truly wonder: From our friends at Merriam Webster, no doubt it wasn't the definition as much as the misspelling that threw us... : )
ros·trum
Pronunciation: \?räs-tr?m also ?ro?s-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural ros·tra \-tr?\ or rostrums
Etymology: Latin, beak, ship's beak, from rodere to gnaw — more at rodent
Date: 1542
1 [Latin Rostra, plural, a platform for speakers in the Roman Forum decorated with the beaks of captured ships, from plural of rostrum] a: an ancient Roman platform for public orators b: a stage for public speaking c: a raised platform on a stage
2: the curved end of a ship's prow ; especially : the beak of a war galley
3: a bodily part or process suggesting a bird's bill: as a: the beak, snout, or proboscis of any of various insects or arachnids b: the often spinelike anterior median prolongation of the carapace of a crustacean (as a crayfish or lobster)
MICHELLE R. where's a good librarian when you need her? lc
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