in the military art, an elevation of earth, sometimes covered with planks of wood, upon which cannon are placed to fire on the enemy. On the ramparts there is always a platform, where the cannon are mounted. It is made by heaping up earth upon the rampart; or by an arrangement of madriers, rising insensibly, for the cannon to roll on, either in a casemate, or, on attack, in the outworks. All practitioners are agreed that no shot can be depended on unless the piece can be placed upon 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.

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, whence a fair prospect may be obtained of the adjacent country. Hence an edifice is said to be covered with a platform when it is flat on the top, and has no ridge. Most of the oriental buildings are covered in this manner, as were all those of the ancients.