Search the Dictionary

A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. " Make me a cottage in the vale." Tennyson. Beyond this vale of tears there is a life above. Montgomery. In those fair vales, by nature formed to please. Harte.

A farewell; a bidding farewell. Donne.

One who pronounces a valedictory address; especially, in American colleges, the student who pronounces the valedictory of the graduating class at the annual commencement, usually the student who ranks first in scholarship.

Bidding farewell; suitable or designed for an occasion of leave-taking; as, a valedictory oration.

ituted, or with which it can be compared; thus, an atom of hydrogen is a monad, and has a valence of one; the atoms of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon are respectively dyads, triads, and tetrads, and have a valence respectively of two, three, and four.

ric for waistcoats, having the weft of wool and the warp of silk or cotton. [Written also valentia.]

A rich kind of lace made at Valenciennes, in France. Each piece is made throughout, ground and pattern, by the same person and with the same thread, the pattern being worked in the net.

See Valence.

See Valencia.

A sweetheart chosen on St. Valentine's Day.

One of a school of Judaizing Gnostics in the second century; -- so called from Valentinus, the founder.

The acid amide derivative of valeric acid, obtained as a white crystalline substance.

A salt of valeric acid.

Any plant of the genus Valeriana. The root of the officinal valerian (V. officinalis) has a strong smell, and is much used in medicine as an antispasmodic. Greek valerian (Bot.), a plant (Polemonium cæruleum) with blue or white flowers, and leaves resembling those of the officinal valerian.

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, plants of a natural order (Valerianaccæ) of which the valerian is the type. The order includes also the corn salads and the oriental spikenard.

A valerate.

Performance to, or obtained from, valerian root; specifically, designating an acid which is usually called valeric acid.

Valerianic; specifically, designating any one of three metameric acids, of which the typical one (called also inactive valeric acid), C4H9CO2H, is obtained from valerian root and other sources, as a corrosive, mobile, oily liquid, having a strong acid taste, and an odor of old cheese. Active valeric acid, a metameric v…

A base, C10H19N, produced by heating valeric aldehyde with ammonia. It is probably related to the conine alkaloids.

A salt of valeric acid with glycerin, occurring in butter, dolphin oil., and forming an forming an oily liquid with a slightly unpleasant odor.