- orchestra pit
- 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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
