valley

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An elongated depression cast between hills or mountains, often with a river flowing through it.

   The Indus River valley was the site of an ancient civilization.

2. 2
   verb

   To form the shape of a valley.

   These hues of red rose and green and pale green, ruffled and pouted in the billowy white of the dress ballooning and valleying softly, like a yacht before the sail bends low; […]

3. 3
   name

   Ellipsis of the San Fernando Valley: a valley of southern California, United States.

   The Valley is getting downright cosmopolitan, but it’s unlikely the region will ever completely morph into a hip haven.

4. 4
   name

   Ellipsis of Silicon Valley.

   The sunshine, the abundance of U.S. government research grants, the willingness of Stanford University to let its professors walk out the door with their inventions and start companies, the presence of a counterculture intent on arming the masses with new technology—all made the Valley the place to be for people with a knack for building new technology.

5. 5
   noun

   a long depression in the surface of the land that usually contains a river

6. 6
   noun

   An area which drains itself into a river.

7. 7
   noun

   Any structure resembling one, e.g. the interior angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes.

8. 8
   name

   A surname from landforms.

Etymology

From Middle English valeye, valey, from Anglo-Norman valey, Old French valee (compare French vallée), from Latin vallēs/vallis. Doublet of vlei and vly. Displaced native dene, from dene and partially displaced native dale, from dæl.