View synonyms for valance

valance

[ val-uhns, vey-luhns ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a short curtain or piece of drapery that is hung from the edge of a canopy, from the frame of a bed, etc.
a short ornamental piece of drapery placed across the top of a window.

valance

/ ˈvæləns /

a short piece of drapery hung along a shelf, canopy, or bed, or across a window, to hide structural detail

Origin of valance¹

1400–50; late Middle English; perhaps after Valence, French city noted for cloth-making

Origin of valance¹

C15: perhaps named after Valence , France, town noted for its textiles

At this point Marvin gives his Liberty Valance smile, the kind that makes you wish you could disintegrate in front of him.

When the legend becomes fact,” a journalist says of Wayne in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “we print the legend.

So Sara Lee got into her white bed with the dotted Swiss valance, and drew the covers to her chin, and looked a scant sixteen.

But, as no assignable sense has been found for valance, I can only suppose that it is an error for falance or fallance.

Christina looked along his arm, along the lifted revolver, to what was now only a dark opening in the valance.

He still stood with his back to her, and, from under his bent brows, his glance shot up and found the parting of the valance.

It had high posts and curtains and valance of pale-blue flowered chintz.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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