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) 3.0 (2006) [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
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