The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gallery \Gal"ler*y\, n.; pl. Galleries. [F. galerie, It. galleria, fr. LL. galeria gallery, perh. orig., a festal hall, banquetting hall; cf. OF. galerie a rejoicing, fr. galer to rejoice. Cf. Gallant, a.]
A long and narrow corridor, or place for walking; a connecting passageway, as between one room and another; also, a long hole or passage excavated by a boring or burrowing animal.
A room for the exhibition of works of art; as, a picture gallery; hence, also, a large or important collection of paintings, sculptures, etc.
A long and narrow platform attached to one or more sides of public hall or the interior of a church, and supported by brackets or columns; -- sometimes intended to be occupied by musicians or spectators, sometimes designed merely to increase the capacity of the hall.
(Naut.) A frame, like a balcony, projecting from the stern or quarter of a ship, and hence called stern gallery or quarter gallery, -- seldom found in vessels built since 1850.
(Fort.) Any communication which is covered overhead as well as at the sides. When prepared for defense, it is a defensive gallery.
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(Mining) A working drift or level.
Whispering gallery. See under Whispering.
Whispering \Whis"per*ing\, a. & n. from Whisper. v. t.
Whispering gallery, or Whispering dome, one of such a form that sounds produced in certain parts of it are concentrated by reflection from the walls to another part, so that whispers or feeble sounds are audible at a much greater distance than under ordinary circumstances. The dome of the U. S. capitol building is one example.
WordNet
n. a space beneath a dome or arch in which sounds produced at certain points are clearly audible at certain distant points [syn: whispering dome]
Wikipedia
thumb|The Whispering Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral
A whispering gallery is usually a circular, hemispherical, elliptical or ellipsoidal enclosure, often beneath a dome or a vault, in which whispers can be heard clearly in other parts of the gallery. Such galleries can also be set up using two parabolic dishes. Sometimes the phenomenon is detected in caves.
Usage examples of "whispering gallery".
On his way in, Hari had tried the usual downcaste whispering gallery, casually questioning doormen, security, secretarieseven that smug worm Gayle Keller.
The continent is a kind of whispering gallery and acts and speeches are reverberated around from New York in all directions.
They are both dead, and Dean Matthews too, but they died without knowing what I knew all along, what sent me to my knees in the Whispering Gallery, sick with grief and guilt: that in the end none of us saved St.
A whispering gallery: hadn't there been some speculation about whispering galleries in the _Architecture_?
If my companions were only to remove a few feet from where they stood, the acoustic effect would be over, my Whispering Gallery would be destroyed.
Sir Clifford thinks of charging twopence for a peep at the whispering gallery in the spinal column.