house lights

British

plural noun

the lights in the auditorium of a theatre, cinema, etc

"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

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

house lights

By which point I was ready to bring up the house lights myself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026

The house lights turned on as 2,800 people rose to their feet for endless applause.

From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2025

The house lights turned on as he made a three-point turn to leave, Walsh said.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2024

But then the house lights went down and a spotlight went up, and he was holding a mic, looking like a stand-up comedian in full performance mode.

From New York Times ● Jan. 11, 2024

People continued to shout for more, but this time the house lights came on.

From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023