valve
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
valve/valv/
▶noun
- 1 a device for controlling the passage of fluid through a pipe or duct, especially an automatic device which allows movement in one direction only.
- 2 a cylindrical mechanism to vary the effective length of the tube in a brass musical instrument.
- 3 Anatomy & Zoology a membranous fold in an organ or vessel which allows blood or other fluid to flow in one direction.
- 4 Zoology each of the halves of the hinged shell of a bivalve mollusc or brachiopod.
- 5 Botany each of the halves or sections into which a dry fruit dehisces.
– derivatives
valved adjective,
valveless adjective.
valved adjective,
valveless adjective.
– origin ME (denoting a leaf of a folding or double door): from L. valva.
'valve' also found in these Oxford entries:
ballcock
- ball valve
- bicuspid valve
- bleed
- brachial
- breather
- butterfly valve
- check valve
- choke
- cusp
- diode
- flap valve
- float
- float valve
- foot valve
- gate valve
- grid
- grid bias
- hydraulic ram
- mitral
- needle valve
- OHV
- pentode
- petcock
- piston
- plate
- poppet
- safety valve
- screen
- screw valve
- seacock
- semilunar valve
- side valve
- sleeve valve
- slide valve
- stage
- stopcock
- tetrode
- thermionic valve
- throw
- thyristor
- tricuspid
- triode
- -tron
- tube
- univalve
- valve gear
- valvular
- ventil
