ˈvalē, -li noun
( plural valleys )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English valeie, valey, from Old French valee, from val valley, vale — more at vale
1.
a. : an elongate depression of the earth's surface commonly situated between ranges of hills or mountains and often comprising a drainage area — compare canyon , gully , ravine ; see rift valley , synclinal valley
b. : an area of generally flat land extending many miles inland and drained or watered by a large river and its tributary streams
2.
a. : a low, gloomy, or fearsome place or situation
the valley of the shadow of death
a valley of misery without parallel in industrial history — Roger Burlingame
b. : a low point in a course of development especially as represented or capable of being represented on a graph
peaks of inflation and … valleys of extreme depression — F.D.Roosevelt
a sequence of sounds … is therefore characterized by successive peaks and valleys of sonority — Bernard Block & G.L.Trager
3. : a hollow or depression resembling or suggestive of a valley: as
a. : a trough between waves
b. : the place of meeting of two slopes of a roof that form on the plan a reentrant angle ; also : the material (as sheet metal or tile) placed in a roof valley to shed water
c. : vallecula
4. : lily of the valley