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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Court of 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.