Diccionario ingles.comDiccionario ingles.com
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




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


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Valve" Quotes from Famous Books



... the bowels," then, is often a safety-valve, and you may, with as much propriety, close the safety-valve of a steam engine, as stop a moderate "looseness of ...
— Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children • Pye Henry Chavasse
... main deck aft of the saloon—for the Kansas was built chiefly to accommodate cargo—during his wanderings round the world had picked up sufficient knowledge of steam-power to shovel fuel into the furnace and regulate the water-level by the feed valve and pump. The small engine, more reliable and quite as powerful as a hundred men, was in perfect order. It abounded in valves and taps, but Walker's parting ...
— The Captain of the Kansas • Louis Tracy
... close, and raising his hat with one hand, passed the other somewhat violently over his now grizzled locks; smoke issued forth from the uplifted beaver as it were a cloud of wrath, and the safety valve of his anger opened, and emitted a visible steam, preventing positive explosion and probable apoplexy. "Good heavens!"—and the archdeacon looked up to the gray pinnacles of the cathedral tower, making a mute appeal to that still living witness which had looked down on the doings of ...
— Barchester Towers • Anthony Trollope
... and you'd have burst a blood vessel. Don't worry. I know I have no business here, but I anticipated something of this kind, and it may interest you to know that I've been outside in the hall since the first whoop. It's been a good safety-valve." ...
— Where There's A Will • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... in collieries with the least possible degree of risk to those engaged in the work. Mr. Garforth's invention, which is illustrated in the diagram given below, consists in the use of a small India rubber hand ball, without a valve of any description; but by the ordinary action of compressing the ball, and then allowing it to expand, a sample of the suspected atmosphere is drawn from the roof, or any part of the mine, without the great risk which now attends the operation ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 • Various


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com