▪ I. pulpit, n.
(ˈpʊlpɪt)
Also 4 pulput, 4–6 -pitte, -pite, 4–7 -pet, 5–7 -pitt, (5 pol(l)epyt, pulpytte, -pyte, 6 -pyt(t, -pette, -pete, poulpet, pilpett).
[ad. L. pulpit-um (med.L. pulpitrum) a scaffold, platform, stage, in med.L. a pulpit in a church; cf. OF. pulpate, also pepistre (1357 in Godef. Compl.), pulpistre, pupistre, pulpitre, poupitre, mod.F. pupitre.]
1. In reference to ancient times: A scaffold, stage, or platform for public representations, speeches, or disputations. Obs. or arch.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 101 In þat hous poetes and gestoures uppon a pulpet rehersede poysees, gestes, and songes. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. vi. 13 Salomon had made a brasen pulpit [1611 scaffold],..vpon the same stode he. 1556 Withals Dict. (1568) 62 b/1 A pulpit, suggestus, podium. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 241 Herod Agrippa..being gone up into the pulpit appointed for orations..was suddenly strooken from heaven. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 229 That I may Produce his body to the Market-place, And in the Pulpit as becomes a Friend, Speake in the Order of his Funerall. 1611 Bible Neh. viii. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood vpon a pulpit of wood [marg. Heb. towre of wood]. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly 29 Demosthenes..lost that credit in the Camp which he gained in the Pulpit. |
2. a. A raised structure consisting of an enclosed platform, usually supplied with a desk, seat, and other accessories, from which the preacher in a church or chapel delivers the sermon, and in which in some denominations the officiating minister conducts the service. Hence,
to occupy the pulpit, to preach, or to conduct divine service.
(The earliest and also the usual sense in
Eng.)
| [c 1200 Jocelin de Brakelond Cronica (Camden) 30 Unde et pulpitum jussit fieri in ecclesia et ad utilitatem audiencium et ad decorem ecclesie.] c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 302 He stode vp in pulpite, þe office forto do. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 574 With prechyng in the pulpit ther he stood. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 649/20 Hoc pulpitum, polepyt. 14.. Nom. ibid. 719/28 Hoc pulpitum, a pollepyt. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxxii. 391 (Add. MS.) Sone after come a persone into the pullpite, ande prechide. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 30 That my soule..may be preyd fore in the pulpet on the Sunday. c 1520 Nisbet N. Test. in Scots (S.T.S.) III. 275 The first lessoun at the first messe, quhilk is sungin in the pulpet. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Commination, The prieste shal goe into the pulpitte and saye thus. 1582–8 Hist. James VI (1804) 291 A certaine minister, at his sermone in Glasgow, was pullit out of the pulpet, and buffittet be the Lord of Minto, for bakbytting and sclaundering. 1650 Evelyn Diary 4 Aug., In the afternoone [I] wander'd to divers churches, the pulpits full of novices and novelties. 1777 Priestley Matt. & Spir. (1782) I. Pref. 31 The doctrines publicly preached in the pulpits. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. i, Out of the pulpit I would be the same man I was in it. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 111 In front of this low screen..stands the oak pulpit. |
b. In other than Christian places of worship.
| 1583 W. Harborne in Hakluyt Voy. (1599) II. i. 169 [Santa Sophia, Constantinople.] The pillers on both sides of the church are very costly and rich, their Pulpets seemely and handsome; two are common to preach in. 1718 Lady M. Montagu Let. to C'tess of Bristol 10 Apr., Mosque of Solyman... On one side is the pulpit, of white marble. |
c. fig. The place from which anything of the nature of a sermon, as a moral lecture, is delivered.
| a 1616 Beaumont On Tombes in Westminster, Thinke how many royall bones Sleep within these heap of stones;..Where from pulpits seal'd with dust, They preach, ‘In greatnesse is no trust’. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl., Occas. Medit. iv. v, The whole World would be a Pulpit, every Creature turn a Preacher. 1868 Lynch Rivulet cxlvi. i, A boat the pulpit whence He spake. |
3. transf. a. The occupants of the pulpit, the preachers; Christian ministers or the Christian ministry as occupied with preaching.
| 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iv. (1880) 60 Do not the pulpettes of the Pope, perswade this martiall might? 1695 Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 50 The Bar, the Pulpit and the Press Nefariously combine To cry up an usurped pow'r And stamp it right divine. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 332, I say the pulpit..Must stand acknowledg'd, while the world shall stand, The most important and effectual guard, Support, and ornament of virtue's cause. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Eloquence Wks. (Bohn) III. 187 We reckon the bar, the senate, journalism, and the pulpit peaceful professions; but you cannot escape the demand for courage in these. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches xvi. 343 It is the duty of the pulpit to preach politics. 1882, 1901 [see pew n.1 2 c]. |
b. As title of a collection or periodically published series of sermons.
| 1823 ― (title) The Pulpit: a Collection of Sermons by eminent living Ministers. 18.. (title) The Christian World Pulpit. 18.. (title) The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit. |
4. Applied to other places elevated so as to give the occupant a conspicuous position, or enable him to direct or address others.
† a. An elevated royal pew or seat in a church.
| ? 1370 Robt. Cicyle 59 (Vernon MS.) Ye kyng to churche com ful riht..And in his þouht a sleep him tok In his pulput as seiþ þe bok. 1485 Rutland Papers (Camden) 22 The King and the Quene..shall retourne to their seages roiall and of estate, in the said pulpitt, wherin when thei are sett, the rulars of the quere shal begynne this postcommon, Intellige [etc.]. |
b. † The poop of a ship, from which directions were given (
obs.); the harpooner's standing-place on a whaler or swordfishing vessel.
| 1513 Douglas æneis viii. iii. 46 Eneas tho..Maid ansuer from the pulpit of the schip [L. puppi ab alta]. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 250 All vessels regularly engaged in this fishery are supplied with a special apparatus, called a ‘rest’ or ‘pulpit’, for the support of the harpooner as he stands on the bowsprit. 1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 135/1 Pulpit, the harpooning platform on the bowsprit of a sword-fishing vessel. 1959 W. R. Bird These are Maritimes v. 132 We noted the ‘pulpits’ constructed far forward for the use of the man who throws the spear. 1972 E. Staebler Cape Breton Harbour i. 16 A bowsprit like a diving board with a metal sort of pulpit on the end of it. |
c. An auctioneer's desk or platform. Now
local.
| 1738 Fielding Hist. Reg. ii. Wks. 1784 III. 329 Why are you not at the auction? Mr. Hen has been in the pulpit this half-hour. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. i, Come, get to your pulpit, Mr. Auctioneer. 1798 Hull Advertiser 9 June 2/2 The Exchange and W. Bell's pulpit are at the service of every broker and auctioneer. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss. (ed. 2). |
d. A small raised platform or room from which machinery can be observed and controlled.
| 1880 Harper's Mag. Dec. 62 Another shout, and the boy touches another lever in the gallery of levers, irreverently termed the ‘pulpit’. 1903 Electr. World & Engin. 26 Dec. 1051/2 The operator of the hoisting motor stands in a pulpit above the floor. 1959 Control Feb. 97/3 The mill pulpit or control room..is staffed by two rollermen and a member of the metallurgical department who keeps an eye on ingot quality. 1968 ‘A. Haig’ Sign on for Tokyo 122 They were sitting in the ‘pulpit’, three of them, above the bars of the rolling mill. |
e. The (pilot's, etc.) cockpit of an aeroplane.
R.A.F. slang.
| 1933 D. Grinnell-Milne Wind in Wires i. ii. 96 The reason for its unofficial name—‘The Pulpit’—was all too obvious. A little three-ply box projected from the front of the machine... The wretched man in this box had..an unrestricted forward view. 1941 [see greenhouse 3]. 1942 Gen 1 Sept. 14/1 A fighter pilot climbs into the ‘pulpit’ of his plane. |
f. Yachting. (See
quot. 1961). Also in other water craft.
| 1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 164 Pulpit, an elevated tubular metal guardrail set up at bow or stern. 1964 Eng. Stud. XLV. 23 A pulpit is a raised safety-rail in the bows of a yacht or motor cruiser. 1976 Yachts & Yachting 20 Aug. 382/3 (Advt.), Fast Week-ender, excellent condition..two berths, pulpit, full foam buoyancy. 1977 Mod. Boating (Austral.) Jan. 110/1 Deck or even pulpit-mounted lights were often hidden from view. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. Of or belonging to a pulpit, as
pulpit bible,
pulpit cushion,
pulpit door,
pulpit stair, etc.
| 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 49 A beaten-out pulpit cushion. 1641 Rutland MSS. (1905) IV. 531 Payd for the pulpet velvet and the velvet of the carving, xli. xvjs. 1848 G. Struthers Hist. Relief Ch. v. in United Presb. Fathers 278 Mr. Boston heard the pulpit door open. 1900 Crockett Fitting of Peats i. in Love Idylls (1901) 5 The top of the shut pulpit Bible. |
b. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the pulpit as the place of preaching, as
pulpit eloquence,
pulpit key,
pulpit oratory,
pulpit service,
pulpit style,
pulpit thunder, etc.
| 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. i. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Another in a rayling pulppet key Drawes through her nose the accent of her voice. 1649 Milton Eikon. Pref., Wks. 1851 III. 334 The Prelats and thir fellow-teachers..whose Pulpit⁓stuffe..hath bin the Doctrin and perpetuall infusion of Servility and wretchedness to all thir hearers. c 1686 South Serm., Prov. xxii. 6 (1727) V. i. 31 Filled with Wind and Noise, empty Notions and Pulpit-tattle. 1751 J. Brown Shaftesb. Charac. 33 In France, the applauded pulpit eloquence is of the enthusiastic..species. 1895 J. J. Raven Hist. Suffolk 204 With caricature as well as pulpit-thunder he carried the war into the enemy's quarters. |
c. Referring to the occupant of a pulpit (often uncomplimentary), as
pulpit drone,
pulpit drum,
pulpit mountebank,
pulpit orator,
pulpit-thumper, etc.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. ii. vii. (1566) I ij, Though this appeere a proper pulpet peece, Yet whan the fox preacheth, then beware your geese. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, lxx, And Pulpit Drums awake the Iland round; All Boanerges. 1650 Milton Tenure Kings (ed. 2) 47 That men may yet more fully know the difference between Protestant divines and these pulpit firebrands. 1673 [R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 11 Your weapons of offence..you might have reserv'd for some of your pulpit-officers. 1682 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 72 (1713) II. 191 How do they make one of these Pulpit-thumpers? 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. iv. (1721) 226 The Pulpit-prater (that has his Religion in his Tongue and Eyes, I mean, his Sermon-Notes). 1772 Nugent tr. Hist. Fr. Gerund I. 564 Henceforth those Pulpit-Drones..let not a braggart of a Frenchman praise. 1824 Southey Bk. of Ch. xiii. (1841) 230 Though he [Bp. Pecock] censured these pulpit-bawlers, as he called them. 1828 Webster, Pulpit-orator, an eloquent preacher. |
d. Special
Combs.:
pulpit-cloth, an ornamented cover of the reading-desk of a pulpit;
pulpit-cross, a cross set up in a burying-ground or in a place where there was no church, from the steps or raised base of which sermons were often preached; a preaching-cross;
† pulpit-friar, a preaching friar;
pulpit-glass, a sand-glass placed on a pulpit to indicate the time to the preacher;
† pulpit-man, a preacher;
† pulpit-prayer, a prayer said in the pulpit (as distinguished from those read in the service);
pulpit-rail, a rail on a ship's pulpit.
| 1552 in Inv. Ch. Surrey (1869) 44 One *pulpit clothe. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 112 ¶2 He has likewise given a handsome Pulpit-Cloth,.. at his own Expence. 1872 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 317 Fragments of richly colored altar-pieces, fine pulpit-cloths, and pieces of old carving. |
| 1598 Stow Surv. (1603) 333 About the middest of this [Pauls] Churchyeard is a *Pulpit Crosse of timber, mounted vpon steppes of stone,..in which are sermons preached..euery Sundaye in the forenoone. |
| 1555 Eden Decades 165 Iohn Cacedus the *pulpitte fryer of the order of saynt Frances. |
| 1907 Daily Chron. 4 Nov. 4/7 Probably the most modern *pulpit-glass in existence is that which adorns the pulpit of the Chapel Royal, Savoy. It is timed for eighteen minutes only, and was placed in the chapel in 1867. [Cf quots. 1591, 1852 s.v. hour-glass.] |
| 1582 Allen Martyrd. Father Campion (1908) 8 Many Protestantes..ever afterward contemned their vulgar *pulpit men in comparison of him. 1681 Evelyn Diary 5 Nov., Dr. Hooper..is one of y⊇ first rank of pulpit men in the nation. |
| 1684 Baxter Twelve Argts. §20. 35 They have all that you have (*Pulpit Prayer and Sermon, and sometimes a Chapter). 1697 G. Burghope Disc. Relig. Assemb. 92 Every pulpit-prayer made by a man's private spirit is valued much above the Common Prayer. |
| 1958 S. A. Grau Hard Blue Sky i. 42 Hector walked the full length of the boat and turning settled himself on the *pulpit rail. 1974 G. Jenkins Bridge of Magpies xv. 226 A light anti-aircraft gun platform..surrounded by a rusty metal ‘pulpit rail’. |
Hence (mainly
nonce-words)
† ˈpulpitable,
ˈpulpital,
ˈpulpitary,
pulˈpitic,
pulˈpitical adjs., connected with, appropriate to, or characteristic of the pulpit as the place of preaching; hence
pulˈpitically adv., in a pulpitical manner;
ˈpulpitful, enough to fill a pulpit;
ˈpulpitish a., resembling a pulpit performance or preaching;
ˈpulpitism, a characteristic of language or style of preachers and sermons;
ˈpulpitless a., lacking a pulpit or a place as preacher;
ˈpulpitly adv., with regard to the pulpit or preaching;
pulpiˈtolatry, ‘worship’ of the pulpit or preaching.
| 1772 Nugent tr. Hist. Fr. Gerund II. 84 This the exordium of my *pulpitable functions. |
| Ibid. 511 The famous *pulpital performances of..Friar Gerund. 1846 Poe Colton Wks. 1864 III. 27 He converses fluently,..but grandiloquently, and with a tone half tragical, half pulpital. |
| 1784 J. Brown Hist. Brit. Ch. (1820) I. 120 The *pulpitary contention between Popish and Protestant preachers was great. |
| 1845 Ecclesiologist IV. 117 A slight poetical licence, a mere *pulpitic exaggeration. |
| 1775 Ash, Suppl., *Pulpitical. 1885 Clark Russell Strange Voy. I. xvi. 229 Not a little impressed by the pulpitical twang and rattle of his north-country notes. |
| 1751 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) III. ccxlv. 123 To proceed then regularly and *pulpitically; I will first shew you, my beloved [etc.]. |
| 1680 V. Alsop Mischief of Imposit. xiii. 99 Whether he gave..any encouragement..to vomit up a whole *Pulpitful of Gall. |
| 1847 Webster, *Pulpitish. |
| 1881 Ch. Rev. No. 589. 177 The common-places and *pulpitisms which have gone so far to make volumes of sermons odious. |
| 1889 Chicago Advance 7 Feb., Some of them are *pulpitless, and some..want a change of pulpit. |
| 1872 H. W. Beecher Lect. Preaching I. 24 As it is dangerous personally, so it is dangerous *pulpitly. |
| 1853 Ecclesiologist XIV. 409 The *pulpitolatry of another arrangement is almost incredible. |
▪ II. ˈpulpit, v. [f. pulpit n.] a. trans. To provide with a pulpit, or place in the pulpit.
b. intr. To officiate in the pulpit, to preach. Hence
ˈpulpited ppl. a.,
ˈpulpiting vbl. n.| 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 151/1 Yet would thei long to be pulpeted. c 1540 Old Ways (1892) 39 Affter he had doone with his pulpitynge. 1653 Milton Hirelings (1659) 84 It is not necessarie..that Men should sit all thir life long at the feet of a pulpited Divine. 1729 Byrom Jrnl. & Lit. Rem. 19 Feb. (Chetham Soc.) I. ii. 330 He said..that he was in priest's orders, but.. that he had done with pulpiting. 1865 E. Burritt Walk Land's End vi. 209 Mat and seat the rotunda..; pulpit at the central column of the great buildings such men as her preaching rolls may supply. 1867 O. W. Holmes Guard. Angel xiii, The young girl sat under his tremendous pulpitings. 1904 Edin. Rev. July 147 Orderly, vulgarised, materialised, pulpited, prosperous England. |