Noah Webster
Pulpit
PUL'PIT, noun [Latin pulpitum, a state, scaffold, or higher part of a stage.]
1. An elevated place or inclosed stage in a church, in which the preacher stands. It is called also a desk.
2. In the Roman theater, the pulpitum was the place where the players performed their parts, lower than the scene and higher than the orchestra.
3. A movable desk, from which disputants pronounced their dissertations, and authors recited their works.