Desk
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) 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."
(2): ( n.) 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.
(3): ( v. t.) To shut up, as in a desk; to treasure.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
in the Church of England, a raised seat, otherwise called a "reading-pew" (see rubric before "Commination"), set up in the body of the church, from which, since the beginning of the reign of James I, it has been appointed that the daily morning and evening service should be read, the chancel having been used for that purpose before the above period. In the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States there is no rubric on the subject.
