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.
3. Loosely: A band of instrumental musicians performing in a theater, concert hall, or other place of public amusement. 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.
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.
Origin: L. Orchestra, Gr, orig, the place for the chorus of dancers, from to dance: cf. F. Orchestre.