Chapter Auctionary to August of A by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

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.
Shak.

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.

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) audience, publicly. — To give audience, to listen; to admit to an interview.

Audient
(Au"di*ent) a. [L. audiens, p. pr. of audire. See Audible, a.] Listening; paying attention; as, audient souls. Mrs. Browning.

Audient
(Au"di*ent), n. A hearer; especially a catechumen in the early church. [Obs.] Shelton.

Audiometer
(Au`di*om"e*ter) n. [L. audire to hear + -meter.] (Acous.) An instrument by which the power of hearing can be gauged and recorded on a scale.

Audiphone
(Au"di*phone) n. [L. audire to hear + Gr. sound.] An instrument which, placed against the teeth, conveys sound to the auditory nerve and enables the deaf to hear more or less distinctly; a dentiphone.

Audit
(Au"dit) n. [L. auditus a hearing, fr. audire. See Audible, a.]

1. An audience; a hearing. [Obs.]

He appeals to a high audit.
Milton.

2. An examination in general; a judicial examination.

Specifically: An examination of an account or of accounts, with the hearing of the parties concerned, by proper officers, or persons appointed for that purpose, who compare the charges with the vouchers, examine witnesses, and state the result.

3. The result of such an examination, or an account as adjusted by auditors; final account.

Yet I can make my audit up.
Shak.

4. A general receptacle or receiver. [Obs.]

It [a little brook] paid to its common audit no more than the revenues of a little cloud.
Jer. Taylor.

Audit ale, a kind of ale, brewed at the English universities, orig. for the day of audit. — Audit house, Audit room, an appendage to a cathedral, for the transaction of its business.

Audit
(Au"dit) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Audited; p. pr. & vb. n. Auditing.] To examine and adjust, as an account or accounts; as, to audit the accounts of a treasure, or of parties who have a suit depending in court.