valance
noun /ˈvæləns/
/ˈvæləns/
- a narrow piece of cloth like a short curtain that hangs around the frame of a bed, under a shelf, etc.
enlarge image - (especially North American English) (also pelmet British and North American English)a narrow piece of wood or cloth above a window that hides the curtain rail
Word Originlate Middle English: perhaps Anglo-Norman French, from a shortened form of Old French avaler ‘descend’, from a val ‘down’ (literally ‘in the valley’).