a table, frame, or case, usually with sloping top, but often with flat top, for the use writers and readers. it often has a drawer or repository underneath.-a reading table or lectern to support the book from which the liturgical service is read, differing from the pulpit from which the sermon is preached; also (esp. in the united states), a pulpit. hence, used symbolically for "the clerical profession."-to shut up, as in a desk; to treasure.