gal ‧ le ‧ ry W3 /ˈɡæləri/ BrE AmE noun ( plural galleries ) [countable]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Medieval Latin ; Origin: galeria , perhaps from galilaea 'small room for praying in inside a church' , probably from Galilaea 'Galilee' , area in Palestine where Christ traveled and taught ]
1 .
a) a large building where people can see famous pieces of art:
an exhibition of African art at the Hayward Gallery
b) a small privately owned shop or ↑ studio where you can see and buy pieces of art
2 .
a) an upper floor or ↑ balcony built on an inner wall of a hall, theatre, or church, from which people can watch a performance, discussion etc:
the public gallery in Congress
in the gallery
We could only afford seats up in the gallery.
b) the gallery the people sitting in a gallery
3 . play to the gallery to do or say something just because you think it will please people and make you popular
4 . a level passage under the ground in a mine or ↑ cave
⇨ ↑ press gallery , ↑ shooting gallery
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + gallery
▪ an art gallery
a guide to the city's museums and art galleries
▪ a picture/portrait gallery
The picture gallery is full of treasures.
▪ a private gallery (=owned by a private person)
The portrait was to be sold to a private gallery in the United States.
▪ the national gallery (=owned by the country)
Edinburgh has three national galleries.
■ verbs
▪ visit/go to a gallery
The children visited the gallery on a school trip.
▪ a painting hangs in a gallery
Many of her pictures hang in the National Gallery of Canada.
▪ a gallery is showing/exhibiting something
The gallery is showing a series of watercolour works.
▪ exhibit something in/at a gallery
It was the first time that the paintings had been exhibited in a gallery.
■ gallery + NOUN
▪ gallery space (=area for displaying art )
She exhibited her work in the gallery space of the Institute of Art and Technology.