n. | 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. |
| 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. |
| 3. | The place in any public hall appropriated to a band of instrumental musicians. |
| 4. | (Mus.) Loosely: A band of instrumental musicians performing in a theater, concert hall, or other place of public amusement. |
| 5. | (Mus.) The instruments employed by a full band, collectively; as, an orchestra of forty stringed instruments, with proper complement of wind instruments. |
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