From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishvalevale /veɪl/ noun [countable] literary 1 DNa broad low valley2 → a/the/this vale of tears
Examples from the Corpus
vale• Meandering paths lead among dirt hills into odd little vales and over small bridges.• Great granite fortresses sprang up in the misty vales and from them Dragon Princes rode the thermals over sullen volcanoes.• The economy of the vale was founded on livestock.• The best view of the vale is from the hills surrounding it; it looks like a map spread out.• We all know what next occurred-and here we all are, in this vale of tears.• Something marshy in the fogs of the wide vale of York seemed tonight to poison the gathering vapour.Origin vale (1300-1400) Old French val, from Latin valles 