valleys

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of valley.

   Rivers carved deep valleys through the limestone over many thousands of years.

   The fertile valleys of the region produce most of the country's wheat.

   Note

   A regular plural that keeps its y: because a vowel comes before it, valley simply adds -s, giving valleys rather than vallies, just as key gives keys. The plural covers every sense of the noun, from the hollows between hills to the areas that drain into a river and the troughs where two roof slopes meet. The same spelling also serves the rare verb form.

2. 2
   verbrare

   Third-person singular simple present of valley.

   Note

   Here the word is a rare, poetic verb meaning to sink into a valley's shape. It takes no object: a surface valleys, and the land valleys between two slopes, but nothing is valleyed by someone. Because it is uncommon, it reads as deliberately descriptive. Use it where an image of a hollow forming is wanted, and prefer sinks or dips in plain prose.

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