valve

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vælv/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin valva (“leaf of a folding door”) (usually plural valvae, a folding door),^[2][3][4][5] literally that which turns, related to volvere (“to roll”) (see volume),^[3][2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn, revolve”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the halves of a folding door: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A membranous fold that regulates the flow of body fluids is first recorded in 1615,^[2][3] a mechanical device that works like it in 1659,^[2][3] and in zoology one of the halves of a hinged shell in 1661.^[2][6] Word Origins describes the development as from a door leaf to a lid or flap controlling the passage of gas or fluid in the mid-17th century.^[7] A door controlling the flow of water in a sluice is from 1790.^[6] The verb, to provide with a valve, is rare, from the mid-19th century.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1387 – a leaf of a folding door.^[2]
• 1615 – in anatomy.^[2]
• 1659 – a mechanical valve.^[2]
• 1661 – half of a shell.^[2]
• 1790 – a sluice gate.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A device that starts, stops or controls the flow of a fluid or gas.
2. (anatomy) A fold in a hollow organ, such as the heart or a vein, that prevents fluid from flowing back.
3. (zoology) Either half of a hinged shell.

Verb

1. To provide with, or control by, a valve.

Word family

• valveless
• valved
• valvelike

Related words

• valvular
• volume
• revolve
• involve
• voluble

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press