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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

valve.

A device that controls the flow of a gas or fluid through a space, such as a pipe, manifold, or plenum.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈvælv/
  1. A device that controls the flow of a gas or fluid through a space, such as a pipe, manifold, or plenum.

    open the valve
    close the valve
  2. A device that controls the flow of a gas or fluid through a space, such as a pipe, manifold, or plenum. Such a device that admits fuel and air into the cylinder of an internal combustion engine, or one that allows combustion gases to exit.

    In nearly all internal combustion engines, the valves are of the poppet type.
  3. 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 control the flow in the opposite direction.

    the ileocecal valve
    the atrioventricular valves
  4. One of the leaves of a folding door or of a window sash.

  5. A vacuum tube.

    UK
  6. One of the pieces into which certain fruits naturally separate when they dehisce.

  7. A small portion of certain anthers, which opens like a trapdoor to allow the pollen to escape, such as in the barberry.

  8. One of the pieces or divisions of bivalve or multivalve shells.

  9. One of the two similar portions of the shell of a diatom.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English valve, from Latin valva (“double door, valve”). Doublet of valva.

verb/ˈvælv/
  1. To control (flow) by means of a valve.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English valve, from Latin valva (“double door, valve”). Doublet of valva.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.