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ORCHESTRA
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Seating on the main floor in a theater
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("orchestra" is a kind of...):
seating; seating area; seating room; seats (an area that includes places where several people can sit)
Holonyms ("orchestra" is a part of...):
house; theater; theatre (a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A musical organization consisting of a group of instrumentalists including string players
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("orchestra" is a kind of...):
musical group; musical organisation; musical organization (an organization of musicians who perform together)
Meronyms (parts of "orchestra"):
section (a division of an orchestra containing all instruments of the same class)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "orchestra"):
chamber orchestra (small orchestra; usually plays classical music)
string orchestra (an orchestra playing only stringed instruments)
philharmonic; symphony; symphony orchestra (a large orchestra; can perform symphonies)
Derivation:
orchestral (relating to or composed for an orchestra)
orchestrate (write an orchestra score for)
Context examples:
I have just been telling you what I think, in order to explain why the elephantine gambols of Madame Tetralani spoil the orchestra for me.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Then—oh! how shall one describe what took place then—when the full exuberance of the majority and the full reaction of the minority united to make one great wave of enthusiasm, which rolled from the back of the hall, gathering volume as it came, swept over the orchestra, submerged the platform, and carried the four heroes away upon its crest?
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Far down there in the orchestra circle was the one woman in all the world, so different, so terrifically different, from these two girls of his class, that he could feel for them only pity and sorrow.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He saw her take her seat in the orchestra circle, and little else than her did he see that night—a pair of slender white shoulders and a mass of pale gold hair, dim with distance.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
If I had, I could have wept sentimental tears to-night, and the clownish antics of that precious pair would have but enhanced the beauty of their voices and the beauty of the accompanying orchestra.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
"Well, we're almost the last tonight," said one of the men sheepishly. "The orchestra left half an hour ago."
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived—no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
There was the boom of a bass drum, and the voice of the orchestra leader rang out suddenly above the echolalia of the garden.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
