a raised area, often having a stepped or sloping floor, in a theater, church, or other public building to accommodate spectators, exhibits, etc.
2.
the uppermost of such areas in a theater, usually containing the cheapest seats.
3.
the occupants of such an area in a theater.
4.
the general public, esp. when regarded as having popular or uncultivated tastes.
5.
any group of spectators or observers, as at a golf match, a Congressional session, etc.
6.
a room, series of rooms, or building devoted to the exhibition and often the sale of works of art.
7.
a long covered area, narrow and open at one or both sides, used esp. as a walk or corridor.
8.
Chiefly South Atlantic States. a long porch or portico; veranda.
9.
a long, relatively narrow room, esp. one for public use.
10.
a corridor, esp. one having architectural importance through its scale or decorative treatment.
11.
a raised, balconylike platform or passageway running along the exterior wall of a building inside or outside.
12.
a large room or building used for photography, target practice, or other special purposes: a shooting gallery.
13.
a collection of art for exhibition.
14.
Theater. a narrow, raised platform located beyond the acting area, used by stagehands or technicians to stand on when working.
15.
Nautical. a projecting balcony or structure on the quarter or stern of a vessel.
16.
Furniture. an ornamental railing or cresting surrounding the top of a table, stand, desk, etc.
17.
Mining. a level or drift.
18.
a small tunnel in a dam, mine, or rock, for various purposes, as inspection or drainage.
19.
a passageway made by an animal.
20.
FortificationObsolete. an underground or covered passage to another part of a fortified position.
—Idiom
21.
play to the gallery, to attempt to appeal to the popular taste, as opposed to a more refined or esoteric taste: Movies, though still playing mainly to the gallery, have taken their place as a significant art form.
Origin: 1400–50; late ME < OF galerie < ML galeria, by dissimilation or suffix replacement from galilea, galilæagalilee
An upper section, often with a sloping floor, projecting from the rear or side walls of a theater or an auditorium to provide additional seating.
The seats in such a section, usually cheaper than those on the main floor.
The cheapest seats in a theater, generally those of the uppermost gallery.
The audience occupying a gallery or cheap section of a theater.
A building, an institution, or a room for the exhibition of artistic work.
An establishment that displays and sells works of art.
A photographer's studio.
An underground tunnel or passageway, as in a cave or one dug for military or mining purposes.
A passage made by a tunneling insect or animal.
A large audience or group of spectators, as at a tennis or golf match.
The general public, usually considered as exemplifying a lack of discrimination or sophistication: accused the administration of playing to the gallery on the defense issue.
A building, an institution, or a room for the exhibition of artistic work.
An establishment that displays and sells works of art.
A photographer's studio.
An underground tunnel or passageway, as in a cave or one dug for military or mining purposes.
A passage made by a tunneling insect or animal.
A collection; an assortment: The trial featured a gallery of famous and flamboyant witnesses.
An underground tunnel or passageway, as in a cave or one dug for military or mining purposes.
A passage made by a tunneling insect or animal.
Nautical A platform or balcony at the stern or quarters of some early sailing ships.
A decorative upright trimming or molding along the edge of a table top, tray, or shelf.
[Middle English galerie, from Old French, from Old North French galilee, galilee; see galilee.] gal'ler·ied adj. In Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, an open roofed porch that runs along at least one side of a house has been called a gallery: "Out on the small front gallery she had hung Bobinôt's Sunday clothes to air" (Kate Chopin). Craig M. Carver, the author of American Regional Dialects, points out that the word gallery, from Old French galerie, was borrowed into British English in the 15th century and was brought over to the American colonies by English-speaking settlers. Although the word in the sense "porch" did not survive in the American English of the East Coast, it was borrowed separately, probably from Acadian French, into the English of 18th-century Louisiana and there survived as part of the Southwestern Gulf dialect.
[gal-uh-ree, gal-ree] 
