in the military art, an elevation of earth, on which cannon is placed to fire on the enemy; such are the mounts in the middle of curtains. On the ramparts there is always a platform, where the cannon are mounted. It is made by the heaping up of earth on the rampart, or by an arrangement of madriers, rising insensibly, for the cannon to roll on, either in a case-mate or on attack in the outworks. All practitioners are agreed, that no shot can be depended on, unless the piece can be placed on a solid platform; for if the platform shakes with the first impulse of the powder, the piece must likewise shake, which will alter its direction, and render the shot uncertain.

in architecture, is a row of beams which support the timber-work of a roof, and lie on the top of a wall where the entablature ought to be raised.

This term is also used for a kind of terrace or broad smooth open walk at the top of a building, from whence a fair prospect may be taken of the adjacent country. Hence an edifice is said to be covered with a platform, when it is flat at top, and has no ridge. Most of the oriental buildings are thus covered, as were all those of the ancients.

or Orlop, in a man of war, a place on the lower deck, abaft the main-mast, between it and the cockpit, and round about the main captain, where provision is made for the wounded men in time of action.