Definitions for: Orchestra

[n] seating on the main floor in a theater
[n] instrumentalists including string players

Webster (1913) Definition: 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.

2. The place in any public hall appropriated to a band of
instrumental musicians.

3. (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.

4. (Mus.) The instruments employed by a full band,
collectively; as, an orchestra of forty stringed
instruments, with proper complement of wind instruments.

See Also: chamber orchestra, house, musical group, musical organisation, musical organization, seating, seating area, seating room, seats, section, string orchestra, symphony, symphony orchestra, theater, theatre

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