Valve

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Valve \Valve\, n. [L. valva the leaf, fold, or valve of a door:
     cf. F. valve.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A door; especially, one of a pair of folding doors, or one
        of the leaves of such a door.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              Swift through the valves the visionary fair
              Repassed.                             --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Heavily closed, . . . the valves of the barn doors.
                                                    --Longfellow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Zool.) One of the pieces or divisions of bivalve or
        multivalve shells.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  valve
       n 1: a structure in a hollow organ (like the heart) with a flap
            to insure one-way flow of fluid through it
       2: device in a brass wind instrument for varying the length of
          the air column to alter the pitch of a tone
       3: control consisting of a mechanical device for controlling
          the flow of a fluid

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  48 Moby Thesaurus words for "valve":
     aerophone, ball cock, ball valve, bell, bung, bunghole,
     check valve, cock, cork, discharge tube, double reed, drain cock,
     draw cock, embouchure, faucet, gate, horn, key, lid, lip,
     mouthpiece, needle valve, peg, petcock, pin, pipe, plug,
     radio tube, reed, sea cock, slide, spigot, spike, spile, spill,
     stop, stopcock, stopgap, stopper, stopple, tap, tooter, tube,
     vacuum tube, valvula, valvule, wind, wind instrument
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  valve
       
           UK term for a {vacuum tube}.
       
          (1996-01-10)