valance

• valaunce (obsolete)
• valence
• vallance (obsolete)

From Middle English valance, valans, valaunce, valence, valons. Origin uncertain. Probably from Anglo-Norman valaunce, valence, from valer (“go down, let down”), aphetic form of Old French avaler (“to descend, go down”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvæləns/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -æləns

valance (plural valances)

1. A short curtain that usually hangs along the top edge of a window.
   • 1969, David G. Irwin, The Visual Arts, Taste and Criticism, page 27:

     Even the mantelpiece is adorned with a totally unfunctional tasselled valance rather like an altar frontal.

2. A decorative framework used to conceal the curtain mechanism and so on at the top of a window.
3. A short, decorative edging of cloth that hangs from a bed, from beneath the mattress to the floor, used to conceal the box spring or space under the bed and prevent dust from accumulating there.
4. A short, decorative edging of cloth that conceals the legs of a couch, sofa, etc.
   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 145:

     Mortally insulted, Jasper went under the couch, where he remained with only his nose showing beneath the valance, emitting little world-weary groans at intervals, and refusing to come out for cake.

6. (automotive) A low-hanging auto body panel, below a front or rear bumper, whose purpose is aerodynamic and decorative but not structural (often valance panel).
7. The drooping edging of the lid of a trunk, which covers the joint when the lid is closed.

• (bedding): dust ruffle, bedskirt, bed ruffle

• valanced