pulpit

See also: púlpit

English

Etymology

From Middle English pulpit, from Old French pulpite and Latin pulpitum (“platform”). Doublet of pulpitum.

Pronunciation

• enPR: po͝olˈˈˈˈˈˈˈ-pĭt, pŭlˈˈˈˈˈˈˈ-pĭt
• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊlpɪt/, /ˈpʌlpɪt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊlpɪt, -ʌlpɪt
• Hyphenation: pul‧pit

Noun

pulpit (plural pulpits)

2. (Christianity, countable) 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.
   • 1915, Russell H. Conwell, Robert Shackleton, chapter IV, in Acres of Diamonds‎^[1], His Life and Achievements:

     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.

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

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

3. (metonymic, chiefly Christianity)
   1. (uncountable) Activity associated with or usually performed from a church pulpit; preaching, sermons, religious teaching.
   2. (uncountable) The preaching profession, office, or role in general; the pastorate, the priesthood, the ministry.
   3. (uncountable) Preachers collectively; clergy; the priesthood.
   4. (countable) 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.

4. (by extension) Bully pulpit.
5. (countable) Any lectern, podium, dais, or platform for an orator or public speaker.
6. (countable, nautical) 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.
7. (countable, nautical) A bow platform for harpooning.
   • 1975, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Jaws:

     [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!

8. (UK military slang, dated) A plane's cockpit.
   • 1941 March 24, Life, page 85:

     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’.

Synonyms

• (place or occasion for public speaking or for expounding one's views): platform; soapbox; (uncommon) tribune
• (dated British slang for cockpit): office; see also cockpit

Derived terms

• bully pulpit
• Jack-in-the-pulpit
• parson-in-the-pulpit
• pulpital
• wayside pulpit

Related terms

• ambo

Translations

raised platform in church

• Arabic: مِنْبَر m (minbar)
• Armenian: ամբիոն (hy) (ambion)
• Basque: pulpitu
• Belarusian: кафедра f (kafjedra), трыбуна f (trybuna)
• Breton: kador-brezeg (br) f
• Bulgarian: амвон (bg) m (amvon)
• Catalan: púlpit (ca) m, trona (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 講臺 / 讲台 (gong² toi⁴)

  Mandarin: 講道壇 / 讲道坛 (jiǎngdàotán), 講臺 / 讲台 (zh) (jiǎngtái)

• Czech: kazatelna (cs) f
• Danish: prædikestol (da) c
• Dutch: kansel (nl) m, preekstoel (nl) m
• Esperanto: predikejo, podio
• Estonian: kantsel
• Faroese: prædikastólur m
• Finnish: saarnastuoli (fi), saarnatuoli (fi)
• French: chaire (fr) f
• Georgian: კათედრა (ḳatedra)
• German: (with a stairway) Kanzel (de) f; (not or just slightly raised) Ambo (de) m; Pult (de) n, Predigtstuhl m
• Greek: άμβωνας (el) m (ámvonas)
• Hebrew: במה (he) f (báma), בימה (he) f (bima) (also used to describe the platform in a synagogue where the rabbi conducts the sermon)
• Hungarian: szószék (hu)
• Icelandic: predikunarstóll m
• Ido: katedro (io)
• Irish: puilpid f, crannóg f
• Italian: pulpito (it) m
• Japanese: 講壇 (こうだん, koudan)
• Korean: 설교단 (seolgyodan)
• Latvian: kancele f
• Lithuanian: sakykla f
• Macedonian: амвон m (amvon)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prekestol (no) m

  Nynorsk: preikestol m

• Ottoman Turkish: كرسی (kürsi)
• Persian: منبر (fa) (menbar)
• Plautdietsch: Kaunsel f, Pult m
• Polish: ambona (pl) f, kazalnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: púlpito (pt) m
• Romanian: amvon (ro) n
• Russian: ка́федра (ru) f (káfedra)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùbaid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: проповједао́ница f

  Roman: propovjedaonica (sh) f

• Slovak: kazateľnica f
• Slovene: prižnica (sl) f
• Spanish: púlpito (es) m
• Swahili: dungu, mimbari (in a mosque)
• Swedish: predikstol (sv) f
• Tagalog: pulpito
• Thai: ธรรมาสน์ (tam-mâat)
• Ukrainian: катедра (uk) f (katedra), ка́федра (uk) f (káfedra), казальниця f (kazalʹnycja), амвон (uk) m (amvon)
• Vietnamese: tòa giảng (vi), toà giảng (vi), giảng đài, bục giảng
• Walloon: pirlodje (wa) f, pretchoe (wa) m, tcheyire di verité f
• Welsh: pulpud m

activity performed from a church pulpit

• Ukrainian: казання (uk) n (kazannja)

raised base for a speaker

• Bulgarian: подиум (bg) m (podium)
• Finnish: puhujakoroke (fi)

nautical: railing at the bow

• Dutch: preekstoel (nl) m
• Finnish: keulakaide

bow platform for harpooning

plane's cockpit — see cockpit

Middle English

Alternative forms

• pulpet, pollepyt, pullpite, polepitt, pulpitte, pulpytt, pulpette, pulpite

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pulpitum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpulpit/

Noun

pulpit

1. A pulpit (podium for religious oratory)
2. A podium for non-religious oratory.
3. (rare) A seat in a church for royalty.

Descendants

• English: pulpit
• Scots: poopit, poupit

References

• “pulpit, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 18 January 2019.

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin pulpitum. Doublet of pult.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpul.pit/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ulpit
• Syllabification: pul‧pit

Noun

pulpit m inan (diminutive pulpicik)

1. (computing) desktop (the main graphical user interface of an operating system)
2. pulpit, lectern

Declension

Declension of pulpit

	singular	plural
nominative	pulpit	pulpity
genitive	pulpitu	pulpitów
dative	pulpitowi	pulpitom
accusative	pulpit	pulpity
instrumental	pulpitem	pulpitami
locative	pulpicie	pulpitach
vocative	pulpicie	pulpity

Derived terms

adjective

• pulpitowy

Further reading

• pulpit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pulpit in Polish dictionaries at PWN