the beak or head of a ship.-the beaks; the stage or platform in the forum where orations, pleadings, funeral harangues, etc., were delivered; -- so called because after the latin war, it was adorned with the beaks of captured vessels; later, applied also to other platforms erected in rome for the use of public orators.-hence, a stage for public speaking; the pulpit or platform occupied by an orator or public speaker.-any beaklike prolongation, esp. of the head of an animal, as the beak of birds.-the beak, or sucking mouth parts, of hemiptera.-the snout of a gastropod mollusk. see illust. of littorina.-the anterior, often spinelike, prolongation of the carapace of a crustacean, as in the lobster and the prawn.-same as rostellum.-the pipe to convey the distilling liquor into its receiver in the common alembic.-a pair of forceps of various kinds, having a beaklike form.