pulpit

plural pulpits

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

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

   1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 12

   1 more example

   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.

   1915, Russell H. Conwell, Robert Shackleton, chapter IV, in Acres of Diamonds, His Life and Achievements

2. metonymicallyuncountableChristianityActivity associated with or usually performed from a church pulpit; preaching, sermons, religious teaching.
3. metonymicallyuncountableChristianityThe preaching profession, office, or role in general; the pastorate, the priesthood, the ministry.
4. metonymicallyuncountableChristianityPreachers collectively; clergy; the priesthood.
5. countablemetonymicallyChristianityAn 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. broadlyBully pulpit.
7. countableAny lectern, podium, dais, or platform for an orator or public speaker.

   Synonyms: platform, soapbox, tribune

8. countablenauticalThe 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. countablenauticalA 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!

   1975, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Jaws

10. UKdatedslanggovernmentA 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’.

    1941 March 24, Life, page 85

    Synonyms: office, cockpit