'Valve' definitions:
Definition of 'valve'
From: WordNet
noun
A structure in a hollow organ (like the heart) with a flap to insure one-way flow of fluid through it
noun
Device in a brass wind instrument for varying the length of the air column to alter the pitch of a tone
noun
Control consisting of a mechanical device for controlling the flow of a fluid
noun
The entire one-piece shell of a snail and certain other molluscs
noun
One of the paired hinged shells of certain molluscs and of brachiopods
Definition of 'Valve'
From: GCIDE
- Valve \Valve\, n. [L. valva the leaf, fold, or valve of a door: cf. F. valve.] [1913 Webster]
- 1. A door; especially, one of a pair of folding doors, or one of the leaves of such a door. [1913 Webster]
- Swift through the valves the visionary fair Repassed. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
- Heavily closed, . . . the valves of the barn doors. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 5. (Zool.) One of the pieces or divisions of bivalve or multivalve shells. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'valve'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- aerophone,
- ball cock,
- ball valve,
- bell,
- bung,
- bunghole,
- check valve,
- cock,
- cork,
- discharge tube,
- double reed,
- drain cock,
- draw cock,
- embouchure,
- faucet,
- gate,
- horn,
- key,
- lid,
- lip,
- mouthpiece,
- needle valve,
- peg,
- petcock,
- pin,
- pipe,
- plug,
- radio tube,
- reed,
- sea cock,
- slide,
- spigot,
- spike,
- spile,
- spill,
- stop,
- stopcock,
- stopgap,
- stopper,
- stopple,
- tap,
- tooter,
- tube,
- vacuum tube,
- valvula,
- valvule,
- wind,
- wind instrument
Words containing 'Valve'
- Valved,
- Air valve,
- Balance valve,
- Balanced valve,
- Ball valve,
- Blow valve,
- Butterfly valve,
- Check valve,
- Clack valve,
- D valve,
- Equilibrium valve,
- Escape valve,
- Eustachian valve,
- Exhaust valve,
- Expansion valve,
- Flap valve,
- Float valve,
- Foot valve,
- Frost valve,
- Globe valve,
- Gridiron valve,
- Hydraulic valve,
- Induction valve,
- Injection valve,
- Kingston valve,
- Leaf valve,
- Pilot valve,
- Piston valve,
- Plug valve,
- Potlid valve,
- Priming valve,
- Puppet valve,
- Reducing valve,
- Relief valve,
- Rotary valve,
- Safety valve,
- Screw valve,
- Semilunar valves,
- Shunt valve,
- Sigmoid valves,
- Slide valve,
- Snifting valve,
- Stop valve,
- Suction valve,
- Throttle valve,
- Tricuspid valve,
- Triple valve,
- Undershut valve,
- Vacuum valve,
- Valve chest,
- Valve face,
- Valve gear,
- Valve motion,
- Valve seat,
- Valve stem,
- Valve yoke,
- aortic valve,
- atrioventricular valve,
- bicuspid valve,
- cardiac valve,
- clapper valve,
- heart valve,
- ileocecal valve,
- intake valve,
- mitral valve,
- poppet valve,
- pulmonary valve,
- pyloric valve,
- rectifying valve,
- semilunar valve,
- sluice valve,
- thermionic valve,
- tricuspid valves,
- valve box,
- valve casing,
- valve rocker,
- Three-valved,
- Valve-shell,
- left atrioventricular valve,
- mitral valve prolapse,
- mitral valve stenosis,
- right atrioventricular valve,
- Double-beat valve,
- Straight-way valve,
- valve-in-head engine