[ad. L. amphitheātrum, a. Gr. ἀμφιθέᾱτρον, f. ἀμφί on both sides + θέᾱτρον THEATRE. The 17–18th-c. spelling -theater is common in U.S.; -theatre follows Fr.]
† 1. etymol. A double theater. Obs.
1615. Sandys, Trav., 270. An Amphitheater consists of two joyned Theaters, and is thereof so called.
1628. Donne, Serm., cxxxiv. V. 396. An amphitheatre consists of two theatres. Our text hath two parts in which all Men may sit and see themselves acted. Ibid. (a. 1631), Select. (1840), 99. A tragedy in the amphitheatre, the double theatre, this world, and the next too.
1807. Robinson, Archæol. Græca, I. i. 17. Amphitheatres, which had the form of two theatres united, were oval.
2. Hence (as the theaters of the ancients were semicircles or half-ovals): An oval or circular building, with seats rising behind and above each other, around a central open space or arena.
1546. Langley, Polyd. Verg., III. ix. 75 b. An Amphitheatre which was a round scaffold full of benches of diuerse heightes.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 52. Their theaters … somptuously built with marble and square stone in forme all round … were called Amphitheaters.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, 70. The theaters being for stage-plays … but the amphitheaters for fights of men with men, and of men with beasts.
1703. Lond. Gaz., mmmdcccxci/1. An Ancient Amphitheater, called the Coliseo.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., x. 160. The amphitheatre of Arles.
1883. Talmage, in Chr. Her., 9 May, 256/1. The students gathered in the amphitheatre to see a painful operation.
3. With reference to its ancient Greek and Roman uses: A place of public contest, an arena.
1640. Brome, Antipod., I. v. 245. An Amphitheater Of exercise and pleasure.
1735. Somerville, Chase, II. 450. A listed Field … An Amphitheatre more glorious far Than ancient Rome could boast.
1875. Helps, Ess., Aids to Contentm., 9. Many unhappy persons seem to imagine that they are always in an amphitheatre, with the assembled world as spectators.
4. A semicircular rising gallery in a theater, containing part of the seats for spectators.
1882. C. Dickens, Dict. Lond., 96/1. Evening dress is indispensable in every part except gallery and amphitheatre stalls.
1883. St. James’s G., 11 April, 1/2. First circle, 2s. 6d.; amphitheatre, 1s. 6d.; gallery, 1s.
† 5. fig. Surrounding scene. Obs.
c. 1630. Drumm. of Hawth., Wks., 1711, 3. Look how Prometheus … wondred at this world’s amphitheater.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 315, ¶ 11. All the Wonders in this immense Amphitheatre that lies between the Poles of Heaven.
6. transf. A natural situation consisting of a level surrounded in whole or part by rising slopes.
1772. Pennant, Tours in Scotl. (1774), 40. On every side mountains close the prospect, and form an amphitheatre almost matchless.
1812. Byron, Childe Har., II. li. Nature’s volcanic amphitheatre.
1849. W. Irving, Mahomed & Succ., v. (1853), 19. Bounded by an amphi-theatre of hills.
7. Gardening. An arrangement of shrubs and trees rising behind each other like the seats of an amphitheater, whether upon a natural slope or not.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Amphitheatres are also sometimes formed of slopes on the sides of hills.
