| 释义 | 
		val·ley \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 |