释义 |
val·ley \ˈvalē, -li\ noun (plural valleys) Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English valeie, valey, from Old French valee, from val valley, vale — more at vale 1. a. : an elongate depression of the earth's surface commonly situated between ranges of hills or mountains and often comprising a drainage area — compare canyon, gully, ravine; see rift valley, synclinal valley b. : an area of generally flat land extending many miles inland and drained or watered by a large river and its tributary streams 2. a. : a low, gloomy, or fearsome place or situation < the valley of the shadow of death > < a valley of misery without parallel in industrial history — Roger Burlingame > b. : a low point in a course of development especially as represented or capable of being represented on a graph < peaks of inflation and … valleys of extreme depression — F.D.Roosevelt > < a sequence of sounds … is therefore characterized by successive peaks and valleys of sonority — Bernard Block & G.L.Trager > 3. : a hollow or depression resembling or suggestive of a valley: as a. : a trough between waves b. : the place of meeting of two slopes of a roof that form on the plan a reentrant angle; also : the material (as sheet metal or tile) placed in a roof valley to shed water c. : vallecula 4. : lily of the valley |