\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.