Audience

Au·di·ence

Audience

n.
  1. The act of hearing; attention to sounds.
    Thou, therefore, give due audience, and attend.
  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.
  3. An auditory; an assembly of hearers. Also applied by authors to their readers.
    Fit audience find, though few.
    He drew his audience upward to the sky.

Phrases & Compounds
Court of audience
a court long since disused, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; also, one belonging to the Archbishop of York.
In general audience
publicly.
To give audience
to listen; to admit to an interview.