"peanut gallery" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "The phrase comes from nineteenth-century vaudeville theatres and refers to the cheap seats at the back of the theatre or in the upper balcony. It came to be applied to other venues as well, referring to the section where less-educated or less-seriously-interested patrons sat. The \"peanut\" comes from the popularity of that cheap snack in those sections, and the possibility that patrons might throw peanuts at the stage if displeased.\nIn the mid-twentieth century, the Howdy Doody Show associated \"peanut gallery\" specifically with children.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "peanut galleries",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "peanut gallery (plural peanut galleries)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "54 22 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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        {
          "_dis": "51 21 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 22 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 21 29",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Collectives",
          "orig": "en:Collectives",
          "parents": [
            "Miscellaneous",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony."
      ],
      "id": "en-peanut_gallery-en-noun-PLVpyMTF",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "(both of which are dated and offensive)"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, John E. Kleber, The Encyclopedia of Louisville, University Press of Kentucky, page 630",
          "text": "As early as the 1870s, most theaters allowed African Americans to sit in designated areas, while the dress and parquet circles were reserved for whites. A few theaters did not allow blacks at all. In the early 1920s, black leaders protested these “peanut galleries” on the grounds that African Americans paid the same ticket price. A boycott was organized that resulted not only in the closing of the peanut galleries but also closing of the theaters to blacks altogether. It was not until the public accommodations drive in the early 1960s that all theaters were opened to blacks. On May 14, 1963, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed the public accommodations law that made discrimination in all public facilities illegal.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The upper balcony to which black patrons were restricted in racially segregated venues such as theatres."
      ],
      "id": "en-peanut_gallery-en-noun-Lwfx4c7q",
      "links": [
        [
          "upper",
          "upper"
        ],
        [
          "balcony",
          "balcony"
        ],
        [
          "black",
          "black"
        ],
        [
          "patron",
          "patron"
        ],
        [
          "restrict",
          "restrict"
        ],
        [
          "segregate",
          "segregate"
        ],
        [
          "venue",
          "venue"
        ],
        [
          "theatre",
          "theatre"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) The upper balcony to which black patrons were restricted in racially segregated venues such as theatres."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nigger gallery"
        },
        {
          "word": "nigger heaven"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Enough already from the peanut gallery; if you think you can do a better job, go right ahead.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 July 26, “Leaked archive fuels doubts on Afghan war”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2017-05-27",
          "text": "\"No democratic government can function effectively on a stage in which every private conversation and classified document is second-guessed by a peanut gallery of unqualified loudmouths,\" said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: \"Let's hear it from the peanut gallery.\""
      ],
      "id": "en-peanut_gallery-en-noun-1rdUgXfC",
      "links": [
        [
          "heckling",
          "heckling"
        ],
        [
          "commentary",
          "commentary"
        ],
        [
          "criticism",
          "criticism"
        ],
        [
          "know-it-all",
          "know-it-all"
        ],
        [
          "inexpert",
          "inexpert"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: \"Let's hear it from the peanut gallery.\""
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "11 11 77",
          "word": "groundlings"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "11 11 77",
          "word": "nosebleed seat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "7 3 90",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "galjórka",
          "sense": "any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism",
          "tags": [
            "colloquial",
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "галёрка"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 3 90",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "divánnyj ekspért",
          "sense": "any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "дива́нный экспе́рт"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-peanut gallery.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ad/En-au-peanut_gallery.ogg/En-au-peanut_gallery.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/En-au-peanut_gallery.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Howdy_Doody"
  ],
  "word": "peanut gallery"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "en:Collectives"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The phrase comes from nineteenth-century vaudeville theatres and refers to the cheap seats at the back of the theatre or in the upper balcony. It came to be applied to other venues as well, referring to the section where less-educated or less-seriously-interested patrons sat. The \"peanut\" comes from the popularity of that cheap snack in those sections, and the possibility that patrons might throw peanuts at the stage if displeased.\nIn the mid-twentieth century, the Howdy Doody Show associated \"peanut gallery\" specifically with children.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "peanut galleries",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "peanut gallery (plural peanut galleries)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "groundlings"
    },
    {
      "word": "nosebleed seat"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "(both of which are dated and offensive)"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, John E. Kleber, The Encyclopedia of Louisville, University Press of Kentucky, page 630",
          "text": "As early as the 1870s, most theaters allowed African Americans to sit in designated areas, while the dress and parquet circles were reserved for whites. A few theaters did not allow blacks at all. In the early 1920s, black leaders protested these “peanut galleries” on the grounds that African Americans paid the same ticket price. A boycott was organized that resulted not only in the closing of the peanut galleries but also closing of the theaters to blacks altogether. It was not until the public accommodations drive in the early 1960s that all theaters were opened to blacks. On May 14, 1963, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed the public accommodations law that made discrimination in all public facilities illegal.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The upper balcony to which black patrons were restricted in racially segregated venues such as theatres."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "upper",
          "upper"
        ],
        [
          "balcony",
          "balcony"
        ],
        [
          "black",
          "black"
        ],
        [
          "patron",
          "patron"
        ],
        [
          "restrict",
          "restrict"
        ],
        [
          "segregate",
          "segregate"
        ],
        [
          "venue",
          "venue"
        ],
        [
          "theatre",
          "theatre"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) The upper balcony to which black patrons were restricted in racially segregated venues such as theatres."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nigger gallery"
        },
        {
          "word": "nigger heaven"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Enough already from the peanut gallery; if you think you can do a better job, go right ahead.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 July 26, “Leaked archive fuels doubts on Afghan war”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2017-05-27",
          "text": "\"No democratic government can function effectively on a stage in which every private conversation and classified document is second-guessed by a peanut gallery of unqualified loudmouths,\" said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: \"Let's hear it from the peanut gallery.\""
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "heckling",
          "heckling"
        ],
        [
          "commentary",
          "commentary"
        ],
        [
          "criticism",
          "criticism"
        ],
        [
          "know-it-all",
          "know-it-all"
        ],
        [
          "inexpert",
          "inexpert"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: \"Let's hear it from the peanut gallery.\""
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-peanut gallery.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ad/En-au-peanut_gallery.ogg/En-au-peanut_gallery.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/En-au-peanut_gallery.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "galjórka",
      "sense": "any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "галёрка"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "divánnyj ekspért",
      "sense": "any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "дива́нный экспе́рт"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Howdy_Doody"
  ],
  "word": "peanut gallery"
}