valve
valve
(vălv) noun
1.
Anatomy. A membranous structure in a hollow organ or passage, as in an artery or a vein, that folds or closes to prevent the return flow of the body fluid passing through it.
2. a. Any of various devices that regulate the flow of gases, liquids, or loose materials through piping or through apertures by opening, closing, or obstructing ports or passageways. b. The movable control element of such a device. c. Music. A device in a brass wind instrument that permits change in pitch by a rapid varying of the air column in a tube.
3. Biology. a. One of the paired, hinged shells of certain mollusks and of brachiopods. b. One of the two silicified halves of the cell wall of a diatom. c. The entire, one-piece shell of a snail and certain other mollusks.
4. Botany. a. One of the sections into which the wall of a seedpod or other dehiscent fruit splits. b. A lidlike covering of an anther.
5. Chiefly British. An electron tube or a vacuum tube.
6. Archaic. Either half of a double or folding door.
verb
, transitive
valved, valving, valves
1.
To provide with a valve.
2.
To control by means of a valve.
[Middle English, leaf of a door, from Latin valva.]
valve
ʹless adjective