| 释义 |
▪ I. vale, n.1|veɪl|
Forms: α. 4– vale (4–5 vaal), 4–5 (6 Sc.) wale. β. 5–7 vaile (7 vaille), 6 Sc. vaill, 7–8 vail; 5 Sc. wail, waill(e, 6 Sc. waile, wayill.
[ad. OF. val (= It., Sp., Pg. valle):—L. vallem, acc. of vallis, vallēs valley.]
1. a. A more or less extensive tract of land lying between two ranges of hills, or stretches of high ground, and usually traversed by a river or stream; a dale or valley, esp. one which is comparatively wide and flat.
In later use chiefly poet. (exc. as in b), but employed as an ordinary prose word by American writers in the second half of the 18th century.
α13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 673 For þat Cite þer bysyde was sette in a vale. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 138 Þare es a vale betwene twa hilles. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 21198 Affter philisofres talys, Ther ben hylles, ther ben wales, Medwes, ryvers. 1508Dunbar Goldyn Targe 248 Suete war the vapouris,..Halesum the vale, depaynt wyth flouris ying. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 93 These two haue tic'd me hither to this place, A barren, detested vale you see it is. 1618J. Taylor (Water P.) Penniless Pilgr. Wks. (1630) 136/2 Then let who list delight in Vales below, Skie-kissing Mountaines pleasure are for me. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 7 Towards the Tiberiade Sea there is another vale very hollow, between two hills, where the Sun is hardly ever seen. 1727–46Thomson Summer 606 [The wave] steals, at last, Along the mazes of the quiet vale. 1751J. Bartram Observ. Trav. Pennsylv., etc. 35 We lodged by Front Creek in a spacious vale. 1787M. Cutler in Life, Jrnls., & Corr. (1888) I. 277 At the bottom of the vale, and on the bank of the river, is a huge rock. 1835Thirlwall Greece (1839) I. 7 Into which the Spercheius..winds through a long narrow vale. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. i, I pity people who weren't born in a vale. I don't mean a flat country, but a vale: that is, a flat country bounded by hills. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 8 Forth we sallied to see sunset from the vale.
transf.1820Shelley Vision of Sea 15 The walls of the watery vale..are unmoved by the gale. Ibid. 96 The mountainous vale of the wave.
βa1400–50Alexander 3980 If I be vencust in þe vaile & voidid of my lyfe. c1440Generydes 216 They rode in a full fayre vaile. 1535Stewart Cron. Scotl. I. 14 In ane vaill that is besyde the toun, Eberieus stentit thair palȝeonis doun. a1568A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xiv. 16 The wallowit weidis in þe vaill. 1617Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems xxi. 102 Heir wods and vails and echoes that resounds. 1770Washington Writ. (1889) II. 308 The vail (through which this creek runs)..appears to be wide.
b. Const. of (the distinctive name of the vale).
a1300Cursor M. 2705 Abram satt his hus..Bi-side þe wale of moat mambre. c1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 5164 Al men sal ryse to þe dome, And in þe vale of Iosaphat come. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paul) 285 In þe wale of comptone [read campioune; L. pugilum]. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 30 Men schall passe thurgh þis deserte to þe vale of Elym. c1425Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxvi. 4364 A companny Þat..war walkande In til þe wail of Anande. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 267 By the vale of Remsie. 1577Harrison England i. xiii, The famous vales in Englande, of which one is called the Vale of white horse, another of Eouesham,..the third of Ailesbyry [etc.]. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 266 And thou Moon [stand] in the vale of Aialon, Till Israel overcome. 1804C. B. Brown tr. Volney's View 33 West of the Allegheny, towards the vale of the Ohio, there are many remarkable hills. 1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 21 The Vale of Gloucester, or that part of the Vale of Severn..which lies in Gloucestershire.
c. Without article, occas. contrasted with hill, mountain, etc.
c1402Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. vii, The briddes..Which on the braunches, bothe in pleyn and vale, So loude songe. c1470Henry Wallace x. 999 Baith hycht and waill obeyed all till his will. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 563 Where casual fire Had wasted woods on Mountain or in Vale. 1786Wordsw. ‘Calm is all nature’ 6 A slumber seems to steal O'er vale, and mountain. 1822Shelley Scenes fr. Faust ii. 62 A voice..which..vibrates far o'er field and vale.
2. a. In fig. uses. Also const. of (adversity, etc.).
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 42 Sche can plonge worþi emperoures From þe hille of hiȝe prosperite In-to þe vale of aduersite. c1450Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903) 181 In the vaile of restles mynd, I sowght in mownteyn & in mede. [1535Coverdale Ps. lxxxiii. 6 Which goinge thorow the vale of mysery, vse it for a well.] 1604Breton Grimello's Fortunes Wks. (Grosart) II. 5/2 After that I had past the great Mountaine of mishaps, I fell into a long vaile of miserie. 1784Cowper Task vi. 721, I..Have pour'd my stream of panegyric down The vale of nature. 1809Shelley ‘For my dagger’ 22, I dare not unveil The shadows that float o'er Eternity's vale.
b. The world regarded as a place of trouble, sorrow, misery, or weeping. Usu. with this.
14..in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 123 In thys sorowfull vale Of trowbull of woo and of hevynes. 1435Misyn Fire of Love 12 In þis vale of wepynge þai haue bene delityd. 1497Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. A iij/2 Y⊇ transytory Joye of this vale of mysery. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxiii. 7 Out of this vaill of trubbill and dissait. 1554in Maitl. Cl. Misc. III. (1855) 65 The labilitie and breuitie of tymes..and of men in this wale of teiris beand considerit. 1618Raleigh Rem. (1664) 113 What could you find in the vail of tears [etc.]? 1655in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 12 For afflicktions whille we live in this vaille of miserey must continually be loocked for. 1781Cowper Conversat. 881 Though life's valley be a vale of tears, A brighter scene beyond that vale appears. 1816Shelley Hymn Intell. Beauty ii, Why dost thou pass away and leave our state, This dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolate? 1911G. B. Shaw Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet 405, I thought I was a man and not a snivelling canting..apprentice angel serving his time in a vale of tears. 1963Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Feb. 130/3 It looks..to heaven, but with no vale-of-tears morality. 1977D. E. Westlake Enough i. 22, I was about as safe as anybody ever is in this vale of tears.
c. The world regarded as the scene of life. With various qualifications, as earthly, mortal, etc., or const. of (life, etc.).
c1446Lydg. Nightingale Poems ii. 351 Where-as þat god of love hym-self doth dwelle Vpon an hille ferre from the mortal vale. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. i. 70 Great is his comfort in this Earthly Vale, Although by his sight his sinne be multiplyed. 1718Prior Solomon i. 621 Why, whilst We struggle in this Vale beneath.., Do They more bless'd perpetual Life employ..in Scenes of Joy? 1784Cowper Task iv. 799 An unambitious mind, content In the low vale of life. 1819Shelley ‘A gentle Story’ 6 In this world's deserted vale. 1850Tennyson in Ld. H. Tennyson Mem. (1897) I. 309 In this vale of Time the hills of Time often shut out the mountains of Eternity.
d. the vale of years, the declining years of a person's life; old age.
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 266 Haply,..for I am declin'd Into the vale of yeares. 1676D'Urfey Mme. Fickle iv. i, A man that has the misfortune to decline into the vail of Years. 1769Ld. Holland in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) II. 372 Yet I..am weak enough sometimes to think, that if Rigby..had pleased, I should have walked down the vale of years more easily. 1796Burke Lett. Regicide Peace Wks. VIII. 310 That venerable potentate and pontiff, issunk deep into the vale of years. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. ix, Mrs. Butler [was] a woman, and declined into the vale of years.
†3.
a. One of the grooves in the beam of a hart's antler. Obs.—1
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxiv, Alle allonge þe beames þere be smale vales, þat men clepe gotters.
†b. ? The notch at the back of a barbed arrowhead. Obs.—1
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 7794 To that kyng he gan to hale, And drow an arwe vp to the vale.
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. Attrib., as vale-dweller, vale-hind; vale-lily, the lily of the valley.
1822Beddoes Poems, Rom. Lily 150 My tribute shall be sweet, though small:—A cup of the vale-lily bloom. 1832J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 13 To mark the vale-hind ted the ripened shock. 1889Archaeol. æliana XIII. 266 The fierce pagan vale-dwellers by the North Tyne.
b. Attrib., occas. passing into adj., in the sense ‘of or belonging to, found, grown, or produced in, a (particular) vale’, as vale-barley, † vale-dog, vale-farmer, vale-grey (a variety of pea), vale-man, vale soil.
1615Markham Country Contentm. i. viii. 98 Now the Gentlemen which dwell on the dounes and plaine grounds, to maintaine the reputation of their Dogs, affirme them to be much more nimble..in turning, then the vale Dogs be. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 240 When at any time they sow Peas on this Land, the best Husbandmen will chuse the Vale-gray as most proper for it. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 152 The hill-country-barley is generally better esteemed by the malsters than the vale-barley. Ibid., The vale-lands are generally too wet, cold, and clayey. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 92 The Beech will never make a good Tree in their vale, spewey, and wet Soil. Ibid. 221 The Vale-men in their open, low Fields,..won't sow Peas alone. 1740Somervile Hobbinolia ii. 7 The Vale-Inhabitants, proud, and elate With Victory. 1815M. Birkbeck Journ. thro' France 63 The vale farmers are busy sowing lupines..on their wheat stubbles. 1895Outing XXVII. 194/1 Those Vale farmers, no pen can ever accurately depict.
c. Comb., as vale-born, vale-buried.
1801Mrs. Robinson Sylphid III. 24 (Jod.), Her emblems are the white rose bending in a graceful curve over the modest vale-born lily. 1808E. Sleath Bristol Heiress V. 102 The vale-buried town of Keswick.
▪ II. † vale, n.2 Obs. rare.
(Erroneous var. of dale3 1, either after vale n.1 or by simple misprint.)
c1635[see pump n.1 6]. 1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Vale of a Pump, at Sea, is the Term for the Trough by which the Water runs from the Pump along the Ship sides, to the Scupper-holes. [Hence in later Dicts.]
▪ III. ‖ vale, int. and n.3|ˈveɪliː|
[L., 2nd pers. sing. imper. of valēre to be well.]
A. int. Farewell; goodbye; adieu.
1550Coverdale tr. Wermullerus' Treat. Death Pref. iiij b, Vale, Loue God, leue vanitye, and lyue in Chryst. 1556Robinson More's Utopia To Rdr. (Arb.) 20 So doynge thou shalt minister vnto me good cause to thinke my labour and paynes herein not altogethers bestowed in vaine. Vale. 1612Shelton Quix. To Rdr. A iij, And herewithall I bid thee farewell, and doe not forget me. Vale. 1656Blount Glossogr., Vale, farewel, God be with you, God keep you in health. 1912L. Inkster (title), Vale, a Book of Verse. Ibid. 63 Vale. ‘Goodbye, Goodbye!’
B. n. A farewell greeting, letter, etc.; a goodbye, farewell, or leave-taking.
1580–3Greene Mamillia Wks. (Grosart) II. 86 Giuing her her vale with a counterfeit kind of curtesie. 1584― Arbasto Ibid. III. 211 The thankes I had for this..was a..churlish vale of the old trot Vechia. 1619Sir S. D'Ewes in Coll. Life Jas. I (1851) 81, I took my vale of him, with many thanks, and posted homewards. 1626Breton Fantasticks Wks. (Grosart) II. 6/2 The Nymphes of the Woodes in consort with the Muses sing an Aue to the Morning, and a Vale to the Sunnes setting. 1675J. Smith Christ. Relig. Appeal i. xi. §4. 103 They must bid an eternal Vale to their admired Law and Temple. 1814Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) III. iii. 129, I am going to say my vales to you for some weeks. a1839Praed Poems (1865) II. 128 So instead of laughing gayly, I dropped a tear, and wrote my ‘Vale’.
fig.1631F. Lenton Charact. C 1, He takes his vale for a certaine season to some sinister Sanctuary.
▪ IV. vale
southern ME. var. fele a.; obs. f. vail, veil n.1 and v.; obs. Sc. f. wale n. and v., wall n. |