DALE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dale mean? 

• DALE (noun)
  The noun DALE has 1 sense:

1. an open river valley (in a hilly area)

  Familiarity information: DALE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DALE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An open river valley (in a hilly area)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("dale" is a kind of...):

vale; valley (a long depression in the surface of the land that usually contains a river)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

 Context examples 

My ear, too, felt the flow of currents; in what dales and depths I could not tell: but there were many hills beyond Hay, and doubtless many becks threading their passes.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I was wedged in between Redruth and a stout old gentleman, and in spite of the swift motion and the cold night air, I must have dozed a great deal from the very first, and then slept like a log up hill and down dale through stage after stage, for when I was awakened at last it was by a punch in the ribs, and I opened my eyes to find that we were standing still before a large building in a city street and that the day had already broken a long time.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In the morning when he awoke, he began to search over hill and dale for this pretty flower; and eight long days he sought for it in vain: but on the ninth day, early in the morning, he found the beautiful purple flower; and in the middle of it was a large dewdrop, as big as a costly pearl.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A picturesque track it was, by the way; lying along the side of the beck and through the sweetest curves of the dale: but that day I thought more of the letters, that might or might not be awaiting me at the little burgh whither I was bound, than of the charms of lea and water.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)