1. valve - Noun
2. valve - Verb
A door; especially, one of a pair of folding doors, or one of the leaves of such a door.
A lid, plug, or cover, applied to an aperture so that by its movement, as by swinging, lifting and falling, sliding, turning, or the like, it will open or close the aperture to permit or prevent passage, as of a fluid.
One or more membranous partitions, flaps, or folds, which permit the passage of the contents of a vessel or cavity in one direction, but stop or retard the flow in the opposite direction; as, the ileocolic, mitral, and semilunar valves.
One of the pieces into which a capsule naturally separates when it bursts.
One of the two similar portions of the shell of a diatom.
A small portion of certain anthers, which opens like a trapdoor to allow the pollen to escape, as in the barberry.
One of the pieces or divisions of bivalve or multivalve shells.
Source: Webster's dictionaryI don't believe in life after death. But I do believe in some grinding destiny that watches over us on earth. If I didn't, the safety valve would give and the boiler would explode. Hedy Lamarr
Laughter is the valve on the pressure cooker of life. Either you laugh and suffer, or you got your beans or brains on the ceiling. Wavy Gravy
It's the safety valve of middle life, and the solace of age. Mary Roberts Rinehart
About half the people at Valve have run their own companies, so they always have the option not just to take a job at another game company, but to go start their own company. The question you always have to answer is, 'How are we making these people more valuable than they would be elsewhere?' Gabe Newell
The culture at Valve is pretty much crowdsourced. The handbook is a wiki. One of the first things we say to new hires is, 'You have to change something in the handbook.' Gabe Newell
Unpleasant reading on the subject of anger tells us that there's not really anything wrong with it. In limited amounts. It can even be a good thing. A pressure valve. Dick Cavett