Word of the Day - Valve

valve

/valv/
noun
1 A device for controlling the passage of fluid or air through a pipe, duct, etc., especially an automatic device allowing movement in one direction only.
1.1 British - short for thermionic valve
1.2 Music A cylindrical mechanism in a brass instrument which, when depressed or turned, admits air into different sections of tubing and so extends the range of available notes.
1.3 Anatomy Zoology A membranous fold in a hollow organ or tubular structure, such as a blood vessel or the
digestive tract, which maintains the flow of the contents in one direction by closing in response to any pressure from reverse flow.
2 Zoology
Each of the halves of the hinged shell of a bivalve mollusc or brachiopod, or of the parts of the compound shell of a barnacle.
2.1 Botany Each of the halves or sections into which a dry fruit (especially a pod or capsule) dehisces.

Origin
Late Middle English (denoting a leaf of a folding or double door): from Latin valva.

Every week, Hendrik verified that the building's main water valve was working, though he turned it fully off only once a year during the inspection of the fire marshal.

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