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dress circle

American  

noun

  1. a circular or curving division of seats in a theater, opera house, etc., usually the first gallery, originally set apart for spectators in evening dress.


dress circle British  

noun

  1. a tier of seats in a theatre or other auditorium, usually the first gallery above the ground floor

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of dress circle

First recorded in 1815–25


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It has no dress circle, chandeliers or Champagne - but a lot of grey concrete.

From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2024

“England is in the gallery, the tropics in the upper circle, Australia on the dress circle and the antarctic in the pit,” he wrote.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 24, 2019

She laughs, and you can hear the elasticity of her vocal cords—the suppleness of a slingshot ready to lob a High C into the dress circle at any moment.

From Time ● Oct. 24, 2017

In the absence of an actual superhero, Stefan Vinke, energetic and bullish, will do, but his tenor doesn't ping off the walls of the dress circle.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 30, 2012

At the top of the stairs, Booth enters the dress circle lobby.

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly

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