Jump To:

• dale
  dale

  noun

  a valley, especially a broad valley.
• Dale
  Dale

  noun

  Sir Henry Hallett 1875–1968, English physiologist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1936.

dale

¹ American  

[deyl] / deɪl /

noun

dales plural

1. a valley, especially a broad valley.

---

Dale ² American  

[deyl] / deɪl /

noun

1. Sir Henry Hallett 1875–1968, English physiologist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1936.

2. Sir Thomas, died 1619, British colonial administrator in America: governor of Virginia 1614–16.

3. a male or female given name.

---

dale ¹ British  

/ deɪl /

noun

1. an open valley, usually in an area of low hills

---

Dale ² British  

/ deɪl /

noun

1. Sir Henry Hallet. 1875–1968, English physiologist: shared a Nobel prize for physiology or medicine in 1936 with Otto Loewi for their work on the chemical transmission of nerve impulses

---

Dale Scientific  

/ dāl /

1. British physiologist who discovered acetylcholine and, with Otto Loewi, investigated the chemical transmission of nerve impulses. For this work they shared the 1936 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dales
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dale

before 900; Middle English dal, Old English dæl; cognate with German Tal, Old Norse dalr, Gothic dals

Explanation

A dale is a valley, a wide, open area that stretches between hills. Some dales have rivers or streams flowing through them, while others are covered in grasses or other plants. When a geologist describes something as a dale or a valley, it is typically a low area that's longer than it is wide, and bordered on at least two sides by hills or mountains. Dales with rivers are often called "vales," while a very small dale is sometimes called a "hollow," pronounced "holler" in rural Appalachia. Dale comes from the Old English word for "valley," dæl.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dale Dale dales

“Dale, dale, ACFC. Dale, Angel City,” they sang in Spanish — “Go on, go on, ACFC.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2023

Having gone uphill, they are heading down dale at velocity.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 11, 2021

On the southern flank of the dale, David Dinsdale calls instructions to his border collie Tom to round up his flock of mule gimmers - young ewes.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2015

Every two years, the call goes out from hill and dale: “This is the most important election of our lifetimes,” politicians trumpet to the crowds.

From Time ● Nov. 4, 2014

Here the Snowbourn flowed near to the western walls of the dale, and soon the path led them to a ford where the shallow waters murmured loudly on the stones.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

No one clued in Dale about this, or anybody else, for that matter.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026

Derbyshire Dales District Council said Helen Lowe, of North Park Farm, Whitworth Road, Darley Dale, built the dwelling, which was "deliberately concealed to avoid detection" and did not have planning permission.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

At a subsequent meeting of the city’s Commission on History, Dale Theiling, one of the commissioners, explained that Charleston had agreed to release the monument to the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

“I’m hoping that you would, especially since you’re a decent man, Dale, that you would prevail upon whoever is conspiring to resurrect the Confederacy to remove this thing,” the 86-year-old Fraser said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

Asking for help, saying what he needs, Dr. Taylor M. Martin sounds like Ms. Dale.

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers

Read on for tips on where to find flowers, which wineries are on the up and how to stay satiated and well rested as you roam the region’s hills and dales.

From Seattle Times ● May 18, 2024

The glory that now haloes the vineyard valleys of Sonoma and Santa Ynez, Alexander and Edna, the Russian River, and other dales and vales, once belonged to Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2022

After hiking o’er hills and o’er dales, Said the campers: “Good night; happy trails!”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 5, 2019

Thorstein went south by the dales all the way till he came to his estates.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019

But the strange trees were never seen in Deeping-coomb again; they had returned at night, and had gone far away to the dark dales of Fangorn.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien