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Whispering gallery   /wˈɪspərɪŋ gˈæləri/   Listen
noun
Gallery  n.  (pl. galleries)  
1.
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.
2.
A room for the exhibition of works of art; as, a picture gallery; hence, also, a large or important collection of paintings, sculptures, etc.
3.
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.
4.
(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.
5.
(Fort.) Any communication which is covered overhead as well as at the sides. When prepared for defense, it is a defensive gallery.
6.
(Mining) A working drift or level.
Whispering gallery. See under Whispering.



adjective
Whispering  adj.  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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Whispering gallery" Quotes from Famous Books



... jasmine gives up its perfume to the night, so does an old house its past in the form of murmurs and crackings and memories and suggestions. Notwithstanding Dunn's attentions there were rats alive in the cellars and under the boarding—and mice; the passages leading to the kitchen premises made a whispering gallery where murderers seemed consulting together if the scullery window were forgotten and left open—as it usually was, and boards in the uneven flooring that had been preparing for the act for weeks and months would suddenly "go ...
— The Ghost Girl • H. De Vere Stacpoole



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