valves

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of valve.

   A snapped timing belt can let the pistons slam into the engine's valves.

   The diver checked the valves on both air tanks before descending.

   Note

   The plural is regular and reaches well beyond plumbing: the intake and exhaust valves of an engine, the flaps in a vessel or cavity that let its contents pass one way only, the leaves of a folding door, the pieces some fruits split into. In British English valves are also vacuum tubes, the glowing parts of an old wireless. The same spelling serves the verb form.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of valve.

   The control unit valves fuel into each cylinder at precisely timed intervals.

   The regulator valves the oxygen supply down to a steady trickle for the patient.

   Note

   With a singular subject in the present, the verb adds -s, and its object is whatever is flowing: a control unit valves fuel into each cylinder, a regulator valves oxygen down to a trickle. A direction word such as into or down usually says where the flow is sent.

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