1. 24 A reading desk with a slanted top holding the books from which scriptural passages are read during a church service.

2. In New Testament times, the furniture generally was simple, consisting of an ark containing the rolls of the law and other sacred writings, a reading desk, and seats for the worshipers.

3. Bimah, also spelled Bima, also called Almemar, or Almemor, (from Arabic al-minbar, “platform”), in Jewish synagogues, a raised platform with a reading desk from which, in the Ashkenazi (German) ritual, the Torah and Hafṭarah (a reading from the prophets) …

4. Definition of Ambo : a large pulpit or reading desk in early churches and in contemporary Greek and Balkan churches standing on the gospel side of the nave and often having its counterpart on the epistle side First Known Use of Ambo 1641, in the meaning defined above