Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Audience

Audience ({not transcribed}) , noun

[French audience, Latin audientia, from audire to hear. See Audible, a.]

1.
The act of hearing; attention to sounds.
Thou, therefore, give due audience, and attend. — Milton
2.
Admittance to a hearing; a formal interview, esp. with a sovereign or the head of a government, for conference or the transaction of business.
According to the fair play of the world, Let me have audience: I am sent to speak. — Shakespeare
3.
An auditory; an assembly of hearers. Also applied by authors to their readers.
Fit audience find, though few. — Milton
He drew his audience upward to the sky. — Dryden
Collocations (3)
Court of audience or Audience court (Eng.) , a court long since disused, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; also, one belonging to the Archbishop of York. — Mozley & W
In general or open or audience , publicly.
To give audience , to listen; to admit to an interview.