pulpit

noun10

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. — 1915
2. •
   Any lectern, podium, dais, or platform for an orator or public speaker.
3. •
   The preaching profession, office, or role in general; the pastorate, the priesthood, the ministry.
4. •
   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.
5. •
   Activity associated with or usually performed from a church pulpit; preaching, sermons, religious teaching.
6. •
   Bully pulpit.
7. •
   Preachers collectively; clergy; the priesthood.
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! — 1975
10. •
    (slang, old-fashioned) 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’. — 1941