Orchestra

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Orchestra \Or"ches*tra\, n. [L. orchestra, Gr. ?, orig., the
     place for the chorus of dancers, from ? to dance: cf. F.
     orchestre.]
     1. The space in a theater between the stage and the audience;
        -- originally appropriated by the Greeks to the chorus and
        its evolutions, afterward by the Romans to persons of


        distinction, and by the moderns to a band of instrumental
        musicians. Now commonly called {orchestra pit}, to
        distinguish it from the section of the main floor occupied
        by spectators.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     2. The space in the main floor of a theater in which the
        audience sits; also, the forward spectator section of the
        main floor, in distinction from the {parterre}, which is
        the rear section of the main floor.
        [PJC]
  
     3. The place in any public hall appropriated to a band of
        instrumental musicians.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Mus.)
        (a) Loosely: A band of instrumental musicians performing
            in a theater, concert hall, or other place of public
            amusement.
        (b) Strictly: A band suitable for the performance of
            symphonies, overtures, etc., as well as for the
            accompaniment of operas, oratorios, cantatas, masses,
            and the like, or of vocal and instrumental solos.
        (c) A band composed, for the largest part, of players of
            the various viol instruments, many of each kind,
            together with a proper complement of wind instruments
            of wood and brass; -- as distinguished from a military
            or street band of players on wind instruments, and
            from an assemblage of solo players for the rendering
            of concerted pieces, such as septets, octets, and the
            like.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Mus.) The instruments employed by a full band,
        collectively; as, an orchestra of forty stringed
        instruments, with proper complement of wind instruments.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  orchestra
       n 1: a musical organization consisting of a group of
            instrumentalists including string players
       2: seating on the main floor in a theater

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  104 Moby Thesaurus words for "orchestra":
     German band, L, Philharmonic, R, acting area, apron, apron stage,
     audience, auditorium, auditory, backstage, balcony, band,
     band shell, bandstand, big band, board, box, box seat, brass,
     brass band, brass choir, brass quintet, brass section, brasses,
     bridge, callithumpian band, chamber orchestra, combo, concert band,
     congregation, coulisse, desks, dixieland band, dock, dress circle,
     dressing room, ensemble, fauteuil, flies, fly floor, fly gallery,
     forestage, gallery, gamelan orchestra, greenroom, grid, gridiron,
     groundling, group, house, jazz band, jug band, lightboard, loge,
     military band, nigger heaven, orchestra circle, orchestra pit,
     paradise, parquet, parquet circle, parterre, peanut gallery,
     performing area, philharmonic, pit, proscenium, proscenium boxes,
     proscenium stage, quartet, quintet, ragtime band,
     rock-and-roll group, sextet, shell, skiffle band, spectator, stage,
     stage left, stage right, stall, standing room, steel band,
     street band, string band, string choir, string orchestra,
     string quartet, strings, swing band, switchboard, symphony,
     symphony orchestra, the boards, theater, theatre stall, trio,
     waits, wings, woodwind, woodwind choir, woodwind quartet,
     woodwinds