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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Orchestra \Or"ches*tra\, noun [L. orchestra, Gr. ?, orig., the place for the chorus of dancers, from ? to dance: cf. F. orchestre.]
1. The space in a theater between the stage and the audience; -- originally appropriated by the Greeks to the chorus and its evolutions, afterward by the Romans to persons of distinction, and by the moderns to a band of instrumental musicians. Now commonly called {orchestra pit}, to distinguish it from the section of the main floor occupied by spectators. [1913 Webster +PJC]
2. The space in the main floor of a theater in which the audience sits; also, the forward spectator section of the main floor, in distinction from the {parterre}, which is the rear section of the main floor. [PJC]
3. The place in any public hall appropriated to a band of instrumental musicians.
4. (Mus.) (a) Loosely: A band of instrumental musicians performing in a theater, concert hall, or other place of public amusement. (b) Strictly: A band suitable for the performance of symphonies, overtures, etc., as well as for the accompaniment of operas, oratorios, cantatas, masses, and the like, or of vocal and instrumental solos. (c) A band composed, for the largest part, of players of the various viol instruments, many of each kind, together with a proper complement of wind instruments of wood and brass; -- as distinguished from a military or street band of players on wind instruments, and from an assemblage of solo players for the rendering of concerted pieces, such as septets, octets, and the like.
5. (Mus.) The instruments employed by a full band, collectively; as, an orchestra of forty stringed instruments, with proper complement of wind instruments.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
orchestra
noun
1: a musical organization consisting of a group of instrumentalists including string players
2: seating on the main floor in a theater
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
104 Moby Thesaurus words for "orchestra": German band, L, Philharmonic, R, acting area, apron, apron stage, audience, auditorium, auditory, backstage, balcony, band, band shell, bandstand, big band, board, box, box seat, brass, brass band, brass choir, brass quintet, brass section, brasses, bridge, callithumpian band, chamber orchestra, combo, concert band, congregation, coulisse, desks, dixieland band, dock, dress circle, dressing room, ensemble, fauteuil, flies, fly floor, fly gallery, forestage, gallery, gamelan orchestra, greenroom, grid, gridiron, groundling, group, house, jazz band, jug band, lightboard, loge, military band, nigger heaven, orchestra circle, orchestra pit, paradise, parquet, parquet circle, parterre, peanut gallery, performing area, philharmonic, pit, proscenium, proscenium boxes, proscenium stage, quartet, quintet, ragtime band, rock-and-roll group, sextet, shell, skiffle band, spectator, stage, stage left, stage right, stall, standing room, steel band, street band, string band, string choir, string orchestra, string quartet, strings, swing band, switchboard, symphony, symphony orchestra, the boards, theater, theatre stall, trio, waits, wings, woodwind, woodwind choir, woodwind quartet, woodwinds
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