orchestra

noun

1. 1

   A large group of musicians who play together on various instruments, usually including some from strings, woodwind, brass and/or percussion; the instruments played by such a group.

   The orchestra plays music for the dancers to dance to in the 19th century-styled dance hall.

   It requires quite an orchestra to get a train to start; the guard blows his horn, the stationmaster rings a large bell, and the engine whistles.

   Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra.

2. 2

   A semicircular space in front of the stage used by the chorus in Ancient Greek and Hellenistic theatres.

3. 3

   The area in a theatre or concert hall where the musicians sit, immediately in front of and below the stage, sometimes (also) used by other performers.

4. 4

   A group of crickets.

   the jackhammering racket of the city softened and an orchestra of crickets trilled in unison

   Nightfall also awakened the neighborhood orchestra of crickets.

   Then he’ll focus his attention on the family’s sprawling property in the Riverland town of Loxton, where Schubert farms an orchestra of crickets.

Forms

plural

orchestras, orchestrae