whispering gallery

American  

noun

1. a space or gallery beneath a dome or broad arch in which low sounds produced at any of certain points are clearly audible at certain other distant points.

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whispering gallery British  

noun

1. a gallery or dome with acoustic characteristics such that a sound made at one point is audible at distant points

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Etymology

Origin of whispering gallery

First recorded in 1690–1700

Example Sentences

In the same way that the architecture of a whispering gallery bends and focuses sound waves, WGM microresonators confine and concentrate light in a tiny circular path.

From Science Daily

So when you are in the Mapparium, you are also in a whispering gallery.

From Washington Post

A teenager in Britain fell to his death Monday from the whispering gallery inside St Paul's Cathedral in London.

From Fox News

His research included laser spectroscopy and nonlinear optics as well as microresonators and whispering gallery modes.

From Los Angeles Times

Looking up, she figured out the source of the sound: a vaulted ceiling, similar to the “whispering gallery” in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S.

From Washington Post