Forum \Fo"rum\, n.; pl. E. Forums, L. Fora. [L.; akin to foris, foras, out of doors. See Foreign.]

1. A market place or public place in Rome, where causes were judicially tried, and orations delivered to the people.

2. A tribunal; a court; an assembly empowered to hear and decide causes.

He [Lord Camden] was . . . more eminent in the senate than in the forum. --Brougham.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)