lectern

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A reading desk with a slanted top holding the books from which scriptural passages are read during a church service.
2. n. A stand that serves as a support for the notes or books of a speaker.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A reading-desk in a church; especially, the desk from which the lessons are read at daily prayer. In cathedrals it usually stands in the middle of the choir, but in parish churches at the choir-step or just without the rood-screen. It is ordinarily of wood or brass and movable, but sometimes of stone and flxed. The name is also given sometimes to the precentor's desk in front of the pulpit in the Scotch Presbyterian churches.
2. n. A writing-desk or -table.

Wiktionary

1. n. A stand with a slanted top used to support a bible from which passages are read during a church service.
2. n. A similar stand to support a lecturer's notes.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A choir desk, or reading desk, in some churches, from which the lections, or Scripture lessons, are chanted or read.
2. n. A reading desk, usually in the form of stand with a slanted top that holds books or lecture notes at a height convenient for reading by a speaker who is standing. A modern lectern may be of adjustable height, and be fitted with a light to illuminate the material on the desk, and sometimes a microphone or other electrical equipment for use of a speaker.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. desk or stand with a slanted top used to hold a text at the proper height for a lecturer