gallery

[gal-uh-ree, gal-ree]

noun

plural

galleries 

1. a raised area, often having a stepped or sloping floor, in a theater, church, or other public building to accommodate spectators, exhibits, etc.

2. the uppermost of such areas in a theater, usually containing the cheapest seats.

3. the occupants of such an area in a theater.

4. the general public, especially when regarded as having popular or uncultivated tastes.

5. any group of spectators or observers, as at a golf match, a Congressional session, etc.

6. a room, series of rooms, or building devoted to the exhibition and often the sale of works of art.

7. a long covered area, narrow and open at one or both sides, used especially as a walk or corridor.

8. Chiefly South Atlantic States.,  a long porch or portico; veranda.

9. a long, relatively narrow room, especially one for public use.

10. a corridor, especially one having architectural importance through its scale or decorative treatment.

11. a raised, balconylike platform or passageway running along the exterior wall of a building inside or outside.

12. a large room or building used for photography, target practice, or other special purposes.

    a shooting gallery.

13. a collection of art for exhibition.

14. Theater.,  a narrow, raised platform located beyond the acting area, used by stagehands or technicians to stand on when working.

15. Nautical.,  a projecting balcony or structure on the quarter or stern of a vessel.

16. Furniture.,  an ornamental railing or cresting surrounding the top of a table, stand, desk, etc.

17. Mining.,  a level or drift.

18. a small tunnel in a dam, mine, or rock, for various purposes, as inspection or drainage.

19. a passageway made by an animal.

20. Fortification Obsolete.,  an underground or covered passage to another part of a fortified position.

gallery

/ ˈɡælərɪ /

noun

1. a room or building for exhibiting works of art

2. a covered passageway open on one side or on both sides See also colonnade

3. 1. a balcony running along or around the inside wall of a church, hall, etc

   2. a covered balcony, sometimes with columns on the outside

4. theatre

   1. an upper floor that projects from the rear over the main floor and contains the cheapest seats

   2. the seats there

   3. the audience seated there

5. a long narrow room, esp one used for a specific purpose

   a shooting gallery

6. a building or room where articles are sold at auction

7. an underground passage, as in a mine, the burrow of an animal, etc

8. theatre a narrow raised platform at the side or along the back of the stage for the use of technicians and stagehands

9. (in a TV studio) a glass-fronted soundproof room high up to one side of the studio looking into it. One gallery is used by the director and an assistant and one is for lighting, etc

10. nautical a balcony or platform at the quarter or stern of a ship, sometimes used as a gun emplacement

11. a small ornamental metal or wooden balustrade or railing on a piece of furniture, esp one surrounding the top of a desk, table, etc

12. any group of spectators, as at a golf match

13. to try to gain popular favour, esp by crude appeals

Other Word Forms

• galleried adjective
• gallerylike adjective
• ungalleried adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gallery¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Old French galerie < Medieval Latin galeria, by dissimilation or suffix replacement from galilea, galilæa galilee

Word History and Origins

Origin of gallery¹

C15: from Old French galerie, from Medieval Latin galeria, probably from galilea _galilee , a porch or chapel at entrance to medieval church

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. play to the gallery, to attempt to appeal to the popular taste, as opposed to a more refined or esoteric taste.

   Movies, though still playing mainly to the gallery, have taken their place as a significant art form.

see play to the gallery; rogues' gallery.

Example Sentences

On the sixth green, McIlroy repeatedly had to step off the ball and go through his routine again due to noisy interruptions from the gallery.

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In the Monstrous Seas gallery, both fossils and three-dimensional models represent the marine creatures that formerly swam below.

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Scenes switch effortlessly from Prague, with its shadowy bridge looming over the Moldau, to a Brooklyn tenement, a busy office, a tony art gallery, and the roof of the Empire State Building.

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Some of the opera’s characters become figures from the art; others are gallery employees or visitors.

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Since the nearby Barnes Foundation provides most of the administrative services, the building could devote a full two-thirds of its space to exhibition galleries.

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Related Words

• exhibit 
• hall 
• museum 
• salon 
• showroom 
• studio