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Valve   /vælv/   Listen
noun
Valve  n.  
1.
A door; especially, one of a pair of folding doors, or one of the leaves of such a door. "Swift through the valves the visionary fair Repassed." "Heavily closed,... the valves of the barn doors."
2.
A lid, plug, or cover, applied to an aperture so that by its movement, as by swinging, lifting and falling, sliding, turning, or the like, it will open or close the aperture to permit or prevent passage, as of a fluid. Note: A valve may act automatically so as to be opened by the effort of a fluid to pass in one direction, and closed by the effort to pass in the other direction, as a clack valve; or it may be opened or closed by hand or by mechanism, as a screw valve, or a slide valve.
3.
(Anat.) One or more membranous partitions, flaps, or folds, which permit the passage of the contents of a vessel or cavity in one direction, but stop or retard the flow in the opposite direction; as, the ileocolic, mitral, and semilunar valves.
4.
(Bot.)
(a)
One of the pieces into which a capsule naturally separates when it bursts.
(b)
One of the two similar portions of the shell of a diatom.
(c)
A small portion of certain anthers, which opens like a trapdoor to allow the pollen to escape, as in the barberry.
5.
(Zool.) One of the pieces or divisions of bivalve or multivalve shells.
Air valve, Ball valve, Check valve, etc. See under Air. Ball, Check, etc.
Double-beat valve, a kind of balance valve usually consisting of a movable, open-ended, turban-shaped shell provided with two faces of nearly equal diameters, one above another, which rest upon two corresponding seats when the valve is closed.
Equilibrium valve.
(a)
A balance valve. See under Balance.
(b)
A valve for permitting air, steam, water, etc., to pass into or out of a chamber so as to establish or maintain equal pressure within and without.
Valve chest (Mach.), a chamber in which a valve works; especially (Steam Engine), the steam chest; called in England valve box, and valve casing. See Steam chest, under Steam.
Valve face (Mach.), that part of the surface of a valve which comes in contact with the valve seat.
Valve gear, or Valve motion (Steam Engine), the system of parts by which motion is given to the valve or valves for the distribution of steam in the cylinder. For an illustration of one form of valve gear, see Link motion.
Valve seat. (Mach.)
(a)
The fixed surface on which a valve rests or against which it presses.
(b)
A part or piece on which such a surface is formed.
Valve stem (Mach.), a rod attached to a valve, for moving it.
Valve yoke (Mach.), a strap embracing a slide valve and connecting it to the valve stem.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Valve" Quotes from Famous Books



... force. As whales breathe the atmospheric air, they must come to the surface frequently for a fresh supply. They have then to throw out the water which has got into their mouths when feeding. This they do by closing a valve leading to the nasal passages, and forcing it by means of air through the blow-hole placed in the upper part of the head. It is this necessity of whales for breathing at the surface which enables man to make them his ...
— Old Jack • W.H.G. Kingston
... carefully secures a retreat in case his men push too far in the heat of conflict, Jefferson suggested the plan of an elective judiciary, which he foresaw might prove of great advantage to those whose zeal should outrun the law. He even recommended rebellion in popular governments as a political safety valve; and talked about Shay's War and the Whiskey Insurrection in the same vein and almost the same language that was lately used to the rioters of New York by their friends and fellow voters. And he and his followers shouted then, ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, Issue 2, February, 1864 • Various
... hours, and then not only the case, with its valve, its springs, its brasswork, lay on the ground, but the net, that is to say a considerable quantity of ropes and cordage, and the circle and the anchor. The case, except for the fracture, was in good condition, only the lower ...
— The Mysterious Island • Jules Verne
... was called the "Illinois baboon" by a leading journal, but Mr. Lincoln placidly read the charge, and told a joke as a safety valve for whatever anger he may have felt. One hundred years go by and the President leaves Washington and goes on a long journey to stand at a cabin door in Kentucky, there to pay tribute to a man who "never lost his balance or ...
— Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, Poetry and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures • George W. Bain
... watched Mr. Le Geyt closely all through lunch, and I'm more confident than ever that the end is coming. He is temporarily crushed; but he is like steam in a boiler, seething, seething, seething. One day she will sit on the safety-valve, and the explosion will come. When it comes"—she raised aloft one quick hand in the air as if striking a dagger ...
— Hilda Wade - A Woman With Tenacity Of Purpose • Grant Allen


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