What is "to give audience"

Audience \Au"di*ence\, n. [F. audience, L. audientia, fr. audire to hear. See Audible, a.]

1. The act of hearing; attention to sounds.

   Thou, therefore, give due audience, and attend.
   --Milton.

2. Admittance to a hearing; a formal interview, esp. with a sovereign or the head of a government, for conference or the transaction of business.

   According to the fair play of the world, Let me have audience: I am sent to speak.
   --Shak.

3. An auditory; an assembly of hearers. Also applied by authors to their readers.

   Fit audience find, though few.
   --Milton.

   He drew his audience upward to the sky.
   --Dryden.

   Court of audience, or Audience court (Eng.), a court long since disused, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; also, one belonging to the Archbishop of York.
   --Mozley & W.

   In general (or open) audience, publicly.

   To give audience, to listen; to admit to an interview.