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.

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dress circle British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of dress circle

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dress circle

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

But this, the original stage, the dress circle, the giant chandelier set with a Star of David and made to resemble the sky at twilight...there was nothing like it.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny