▪ I. value, n.
(ˈvæljuː)
Forms: 4–5 valu, 4– value (4 ualue, 5 walue, valwe), 4 valuwe; 4, 7 valeu, 5 -ieu, -eue, 7 valleu; 5–7 valewe (5–6 walew, 5 -ewe, -ywe); 4–5 valow(e; 9 dial. vally.
[a. OF. value (13th c.), vallue (F. dial. vaillue), fem. pa. pple. of valoir to be of worth:—L. valēre. Cf. med.L. valua (1235, from OF.), Sp. valua, It. valuta.]
I. 1. a. That amount of some commodity, medium of exchange, etc., which is considered to be an equivalent for something else; a fair or adequate equivalent or return. Phr. value for money (freq. attrib.).
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5966 But þou ȝyve hyt hym aȝeyn, Or þe valeu.., Þou art falle þan yn þe vyce Of coueytyse. 1338 ― Chron. (1810) 163 Amendes I wille make... Þi godes þe biken, or þe valow verray. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxv. (Harl. MS.) 288, I saide to you þat I myȝte not selle you þe ston, no lesse þan I recyvid þerfore the trewe value. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 254 The other two Consuls..were not released, till their Nations..promised the Basha to pay..the value of the Ships Loadings. 1716 Lond. Gaz. No. 5472/4 A Bill..for Value received, for 60l. 1735 Johnson Lobo's Abyss., Descr. vii. 86 On Condition he paid a certain number of Cows, or the Value. 1806 Cumberland Mem. (1807) II. 151 We hardly could be said to have had value for our money. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1286 For the recovery of the goods in question, or the value thereof, if the plaintiff cannot have the goods. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. (1876) 147 To pay at a given date..a specified sum of money, for which value has been received. 1902 W. S. Churchill in R. S. Churchill Winston S. Churchill (1969) II. Compan. i. 132 The first limitation is therefore the restriction of a committee on estimates to the ‘merit’ or ‘value for money’ aspect of expenditure. 1929 Radio Times 8 Nov. 444/3 Lissen are famed for the keen value-for-money of every component. 1951 [see promotion 1 e]. 1976 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXIV. 509/2 Every natural salesman knows that the true test of marketability is the subtle ratio between specification and price which even after years of anxious thought Consumers' Association can still only call ‘value for money’ and can still only nominate and not measure. 1977 Management Today July 72/2 Both in extroversion and value-for-money terms, the XJS retains the edge. 1984 Times 30 Apr. 25/3 The marketing manager will be impressed by an easy-to-handle, value-for-money approach. |
† b. A standard of estimation or exchange; an amount or sum reckoned in terms of this; a thing regarded as worth having.
Obs.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xvii. (Bodl. MS.), Vma is a certeyne weiȝt and valewe. c 1460 Play Sacram. 290 For so lytelle a walew in conscyence to stond bownd. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. xi. 249 Thei game not for money, or any valewe elles. 1655 Milton Lett. State Wks. 1851 VIII. 333 We thought it requisite to remit beforehand two thousand Pounds of the Value of England, with all possible speed. 1754 Hanway Trav. vi. i. II. 146 They stripped their habitation of everything that was valuable. The Russians lost a great value [note, About one hundred thousand pound]. |
† c. spec. = valour 3 d.
Obs.| 1607 [see valour 3 d]. a 1631 Donne Sat. iii. 62 As Wards still Take such wives as their Guardians offer, or Pay valewes. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. xxiv. §2 Values and forfeitures of marriage and all other charges incident to tenure by Knights service. 1684 Manley, Value of Marriage [copying Cowell: see valour 3 d]. |
2. a. The material or monetary worth of a thing; the amount at which it may be estimated in terms of some medium of exchange or other standard of a similar nature.
Sometimes,
esp. in recent use, as the second element in combs., as
assay-value,
coin-value,
house-value,
land-value.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 83 Extendours he sette forto extend þe land... Alle þei did extend to witte þe verrey valowe. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 414 God..wole not þat men chaffere but in þingis whoos valu þei knowen. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 2812, I ha no konnyng dywe To declare the walywe So ryche of stonys and tresour. 1474 Cov. Leet Bk. 413 That ye..certifie vs as-wel of the names of all the seid gentilmen..as for þe very value of their said lyvelodes and goodes. 1552 in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 117 An Estimate of the contentes and valewe of soche parcelles and stuffe as was delyuered owte of the storehouses. Ibid. 118 Pantacles one paier of bridges satten in valewe iijs iiij{supd}. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 b, Whan a benefice or prebende is fallen..what diligent inquisition is made to knowe the yearely value. 1602 Ld. Cromwell ii. iii. 56 The King of late hath had his treasurie rob'd, And of the choysest iewelles that he had: The value of them was some seauen thousand pound. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 53 As Metals mixt, the rich and base Do both at equal Values pass. 1771 Encycl. Brit. III. 255/2 Were pounds sterling, livres, florins, piastres, &c...invariable in their values. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. v. (1904) I. 43 In England..the value of all goods and of all estates is generally computed in silver. 1809 Bawdwen Domesday Bk. 4 In the time of King Edward the value of the city to the King was fifty-three pounds. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 1208 To loyal hearts the value of all gifts Must vary as the giver's. 1885 Meredith Diana I. 116 The value of the stock I hold has doubled. |
| attrib. and Comb. 1854 in Tomes Amer. in Japan 410 In Japan, as in European countries, the standard of value-weight, and that of currency-weight, differ. 1878 F. A. Walker Money xiii. 263 The bi-metallic theory proposes to harness two metals of somewhat diverse tendencies value⁓wards. |
† b. Valuation, appraisement.
Obs.—1| c 1488 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 68 It was sene by our tenants, & set to a valow what should be our charge to do, & that shall he have. |
c. In phrases.
under value, below the proper value.
† to good value,
at a small value, at a low or small price.
good value (
colloq.), entertaining, worth keeping company with, worth seeing, etc.
| 1638 Featly Transubst. 9 The fifth was nominated to a poore Vicaridge under vallew. 1699 Bentley Phal. 387 How is his Edition so scarce, that..may be purchas'd at a small value? a 1700 Evelyn Diary 14 July 1683, He..shew'd me some very rare and curious bookes, and some MSS. which he had purchas'd to good value. 1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music iii. 102, I rather like her... She might be good value, given a chance. 1934 R. Knox Still Dead vii. 91 Lisbon..is really pretty good value, coming into the harbour especially. 1937 Auden & MacNeice Lett. from Iceland xii. 161 The geyser was better value, it went off. 1961 J. B. Priestley Saturn over Water vii. 104 Her eyes shone with excitement. Either the Garlettas were exceptionally good value or she was longing to get out of this house. 1979 ‘S. Woods’ This Fatal Writ 34 If it weren't for the chap's confounded habit of asking questions, he would be finding his client rather good value..because of the refreshingly casual way in which he treated..a very serious charge. |
d. value added (
Econ.), the amount by which the value of an article is increased at each stage of its production by the firm or firms producing it, exclusive of the cost of materials and bought-in parts and services; also
attrib.,
esp. in
value added tax [
cf. G.
mehrwertsteuer], a tax levied on the value added to an article or the raw material forming it at each stage during its production or distribution;
cf. VAT.
| 1935 Social Research II. 161 We may call the value added tax a ‘refined sales tax’. Ibid., A tax which chooses as its basis of assessment the sales after deduction of all expenses for raw material and for repair or replacement of equipment, that is, a tax on the ‘value added by manufacture’. 1940 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. XLVIII. 652 A rather imperfect form of a value-added tax was incorporated by Mr. Arthur L. Johnson in his revised old age pension bill in 1939. 1951 P. A. Samuelson Economics (ed. 2) xi. 236 If we insist upon decomposing the 10 cents of final product represented by the bread into the contributions of the different stages of production, we can always do so by concentrating on the so-called ‘value-added’ at each stage of production. 1957 J. F. Due Sales Taxation vii. 125 The basic intent of a value-added tax is to tax each firm on the sum of the value which it has added in the manufacturing and distribution process. 1962 Economist 3 Mar. 827/1 The French system of a value-added tax—that is to say, a tax on net sales, or total sales less the cost of bought-in materials and components. 1967 Ibid. 21 Jan. 243/2 The aids must..bring in industries with rapid growth rates and a high value-added element. 1977 M. Walker National Front vi. 142 A Government in mid-term (which had moreover introduced the unpopular Value Added Tax the previous month). |
3. of value, valuable.
of..value, possessed of (a specified) material or monetary worth.
| c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9199 To precyouse stanes of vertow, And to sylver and gold and thing of valow. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxvi. 124 Oile of olyfe of grete valu. c 1400 Pilg. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) iv. ix. 62 The prys of myn Appel is of suche valewe that it passeth the estymacion of ony creature. 1436 Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 162 Hit is of lytelle valeue,..Wyth Englysshe wolle but if it menged be. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 33 Not al onely these Iewelles whyche been of lytel valewe. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV (1550) 35 When he knewe the two Erles to be a praye of suche a greate value, he determined not to deliuer theim. 1556 Olde Antichrist 198 b, So noble a garment, of more value than al y⊇ treasures of golde. 1600 Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 133 Their shops are full of fine earthen vessels, which are of much greater value then the things contained in them. 1628–9 Digby Voy. Medit. (Camden) 22 Shee [a boat] had litle of value in her. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 19 Gold and Siluer is of no value amongst them. 1709 T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmld. & Cumbld. vii. 37 Lead and Coal,..being of a disagreeable Nature, the one makes the other of little Value. 1771 Encycl. Brit. III. 260/2 The old [guineas] must be of less value still. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 A tower, with a fireproof chamber for the muniments and jewels of especial value. |
4. a. The equivalent (in material worth)
of a specified sum or amount.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 34 Wolde neuer kyng ne kniht..Ȝeuen hem to heore ȝeres-ȝiue þe value of a grote! c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 845 He..broghte gold vn-to this Philosophre The value of fyue hundred pound I gesse. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 124 We trewly may aduerten..Þat for the valu of a þing of nouȝt, Mortal causes and werris first bygonne. c 1450 Merlin vii. 120 Of all the harneys that thei hade brought thider, thei hadde not with hem the valew of ij{supd}. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xliii. 145 Thou shalt not lese the valew of one peny. Ibid. lxviii. 234 They left not in y⊇ abbey the valew of a floren. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 652 A Bason, wherein each puts the value of twelue pence in Gold. 1771 Encycl. Brit. III. 260/2 If..the new guineas are below the value of a pound sterling in silver. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 322/2 A gold coin of the assayed value of 5l. 18s. 8d. 1887 Whitaker's Alm. 183 Bronze coinage..to the value of {pstlg}57,563. |
b. In contemptuous comparisons. Now
rare.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 124 Ne douteþ he kyng ne Emperour þe value of a ryssche. Ibid. 5441 Þat þe Amerel ne dredeþ hym noȝt..þe value of a kerse. c 1386 Chaucer Shipman's T. 171 He is noght worth at al In no degree the value of a flye. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 17506, I ȝeue right not of alle his tene, Not the value of a bene. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. xviii. 2170, I cowntyt noucht þe toþir twa Wicis þe walew of a stra. 1798 Wordsw. P. Bell 239 But not the value of a hair Was heart or head the better. |
c. The extent or amount
of a specified standard or measure of length, quantity, etc. Now only
dial.| 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme iii. vi. 433 They must be sharpened like a stake for the value of the length of halfe a foote. 1731 P. Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Sap, Flowing out very plentifully..to the Value of several Gallons in a few Days. 1764 Museum Rust. II. i. 10 Give each of them the value of three large table spoonfuls of the mixture for a dose. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest (1820) I. 67, I jogged on, near the value of a league, I warrant, and then I came to a track. 1794 ― Myst. Udolpho lii, They stood in the same posture for the value of a minute. 1818 Wilbraham Chesh. Gloss. s.v., When you come to the value of five feet deep. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. 374 There was only the vally of a bushel of apples in all the orchard. Ibid., Dig down to the vally of seven or eight feet. |
II. † 5. a. Worth or worthiness (of persons) in respect of rank or personal qualities.
Obs.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4911 Alle of valow, moste & leste, Suld com to London to his feste. 1338 ― Chron. (1810) 100 Þerfor þe duke him dight, as man of grete value. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶398 Insolent is he þat dispisith in his Iugement alle oþer folk as to regard of his valieu. c 1400 Brut 248 Eueryche of ham hade ful riche ȝiftes, euery man as he was of value and of State. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ii. viii. 721 Þai þat duelt that ile wiþ in War sottis wylde of na walew. 1483 Caxton Cato A iiij, Thou oughtest to gyue place to hym that is gretter and more of valewe than thou arte. 1590 Greene Mourn. Garm. Wks. (Grosart) IX. 154 Some were Caualiers, and men of great value. a 1639 Wotton in Reliq. (1651) 484 A young Widow of value: Who lately dying..left order by Will that her body should be buried in her dwelling Parish. |
† b. Worth or efficacy in combat or warfare; manliness, valour.
Obs.| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 29 Who..his sword forth drew, And him with equall value counteruayld. 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xxxiv. xii, Alceste by his value brought My father and his friends to such distress. 1614 Lodge Seneca 7 The Emperour..giveth a chaine of gold to some one souldier of his that approved his valew in some difficult enterprise. |
6. a. The relative status of a thing, or the estimate in which it is held, according to its real or supposed worth, usefulness, or importance. In
Philos. and
Social Sciences, regarded
esp. in relation to an individual or group;
gen. in
pl., the principles or standards of a person or society, the personal or societal judgement of what is valuable and important in life.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 195 Oure bileve techiþ us þat God kepiþ þingis after her valu, for if ony þing be betere, God makiþ it to be betere. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 602 Cleopatra, Loue hadde brought this man in swich a rage..That al the world he sette at no value. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. ii. 78 Your bounte..may no man preyse half to the valewe. 1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus i. 68 These words with Cyrus came in at one eare and went out at the other, lighter in value then the wynd in waight. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. x. 42 [Let men] rate themselves at the highest Value they can; yet their true Value is no more than it is esteemed by others. 1779 Mirror No. 5. 33 It unfortunately happens, that we are very inadequate judges of the value of our own discourse. 1828 Duppa Trav. Italy, etc. 21 These landscapes have no value but as being the earliest attempts to represent scenes from nature. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 217 Attaching to its commerce and alliance more value than belonged to either. 1884 J. Gilmour Mongols xvii. 205 Buddhism..tells him that each prayer repeated has a certain value in cleansing away sin. 1902 J. M. Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol. II. 823/2 Since value is a function of desire or judgment, expressing a relation between subject and object. 1918 Thomas & Znaniecki Polish Peasant I. 21 By a social value we understand any datum having an empirical content accessible to the members of some social group and a meaning with regard to which it is or may be an object of activity. 1933 Economica XIII. 30 Like all human action social behaviour is determined..in accordance with standards of value or through conscious belief in standards assigning intrinsic value to certain types of behaviour. |
| pl. 1918 Thomas & Znaniecki Polish Peasant I. 33 Sociology..has this in common with social psychology: that the values which it studies draw all their reality, all their power to influence human life, from the social attitudes which are expressed or supposedly expressed in them. 1921 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Nov. 705/4 In the effort, again, to give his characters and scenes the vivid impression of reality, the novelist, whether voluntarily or not, cannot avoid revealing not merely his powers of mind and imagination, but his spiritual and philosophical bias, his views of society, of religion, his ‘values’. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart iii. iv. 394 You've got a completely lunatic set of values. 1950 I. Berlin in Foreign Affairs XXVIII. 382 Crumbling values and the dissolution of the fixed standards and landmarks of our civilization. 1955 Times 10 May 8/3 Restoring to Germany the basic values of democratic civilization. 1958 Listener 9 Oct. 548/1 The reason..lies, I believe, in the structure of Arab society..and in its economic values. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Soc. Sci. 744/1 Social scientists for the most part..have confined their attention to values..as empirical variables in social life whose scientific importance is not so much dependent on their validity and correctness as..upon the fact that they are believed..by those who hold them. 1970 N. Chomsky At War with Asia vi. 299 By their willingness to die, the Asian hordes..exploit our basic weakness—our Christian values which make us reluctant to bear the burden of genocide, the final conclusion of our strategic logic. |
| attrib. 1910 Mind XIX. 227 Our æsthetic, ethical and directly sensational judgments are all expressions of the fundamental value-attitude in specifically different relations. 1936 Mind XLV. 289 A will to maintain the society in spite of one's dissatisfaction with certain elements in its total value-pattern. 1949 G. Bateson in M. Fortes Soc. Structure 49 Of these differences between von Neumannian and human systems, only the differences in value scales..concern us here. a 1952 H. Read Anarchy & Order (1954) 195, I am going to assume..that ‘good’ and other ethical value-terms have only an emotive meaning. 1952 Mind LXI. 290 Attempts to construct various value-hierarchies. 1952 R. M. Hare Lang. Morals i. 8 ‘Bad’ is a value-word, and therefore prescriptive. 1954 W. K. Hancock Country & Calling vi. 173 Myrdal saw only one remedy for it—to state explicitly the value-premises of his exploration so that writer and reader alike would always be able to distinguish the discussion of is from the discussion of ought. 1964 A. Edel in I. L. Horowitz New Social. 220 Some value-attitudes..are ushered into the inner sanctum of science. 1970 S. L. Barraclough in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. iv. 123 The principal ‘causes’ of the agrarian problem are to be found in the population explosion,..and changing value patterns. 1977 A. Giddens Stud. in Social & Polit. Theory i. 91 The initial statement conceals a value premise. Ibid. 94 Ultimate values..involved in both the value hierarchies of individual actors, and those of overall cultures. 1977 Bullock & Stallybrass Fontana Dict. Mod. Thought 47/2 Any field of human discourse in which the general value-terms ‘good’ and ‘ought’ figure falls within the range of axiology. 1977 P. Howard New Words for Old xliii. 117 (heading) Value Words... The change from description to evaluation is one of the most potent agents for decaying meanings. |
b. In the
phr. of (..) value. (
Cf. 3.)
| 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 372 Quhar it failȝeys, na wertu May be off price, na off valu. 1396–7 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1907) XXII. 299 Þe correlari is þe preyere of ualue spring⁓and out of parfyth charite. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 171 That appartenyth to a feynte herte to lowe myche a thynge of lytill walue. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 133 Yf this opinion bee of anye value. 1849 James Woodman iii, There may be news of value indeed. 1855 Brewster Life of Newton II. xviii. 166 Observations of such value, that without them they could not proceed in their researches. |
c. to set a..value on or upon, to estimate at a specified rate.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xviii. 92 Considering what values men are naturally apt to set upon themselves. 1693 Locke Educ. §62 But the Backwardness Parents shew in divulging their Faults, will make them set a greater Value on their Credit themselves. a 1763 W. King Pol. & Lit. Anecd. (1819) 101 My Lord Hardwick..who is said to be worth 800,000 l. sets the same value on half a crown now as he did when he was only worth one hundred. 1782 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 7 You set too much value on the few and slight services, that I have been able to perform. 1842 Combe Digestion 260 No one who sets any value on the lives of his horses or dogs, ever allows it to be disregarded. 1868 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 64 Wolsey set much value upon the study of Greek. 1890 Cornhill Mag. Oct. 365, I must see what value the kafir sets on his services. |
† d. Estimate or opinion
of, liking
for, a person or thing.
Obs.| (a) 1652 Loveday tr. Calprenede's Cassandra iii. 232 Thus parted those two great men, preserving in their soules such a value of one another as you may easily imagine. 1677 in Cleveland's Poems Ep. Ded., Such competent Judges,..in whose just value of him Clieveland shall live..the pattern of succeeding Ages. |
| (b) 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 204 He has a very great Value for her by reason of her great Estate. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 33 ¶5 Nay, child, do not be troubled that I take Notice of it; my Value for you made me speak it. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiv. v, I must esteem one for whom I know M{supr}. Allworthy hath so much value. 1773 Life N. Frowde 182 In a few days she conceived a Value for me, which she expressed in the warmest Terms. 1794 Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 434 Men of learning have always had a proper value for the Greek language. |
† e. ellipt. Esteem, regard.
Obs.—1| 1700 Dryden Fables Anc. & Mod. Ded., I am not vain enough to boast that I have deserv'd the value of so Illustrious a Line. |
f. The quality of a thing considered in respect of its power and validity for a specified purpose or effect.
| 1906, etc. [see news value s.v. news n. (pl.) 6 b]. 1933, etc. [see nuisance value s.v. nuisance 3]. 1935 A. P. Herbert What a Word! 8 To-day, instead of ‘fun’, we learn to speak of ‘entertainment-value’. 1937, etc. [see entertainment 13]. 1962 C. Winston Hours Together vi. 129 In a decade..all this would also be a joke, and the names of these neighbourhoods..would have the same comedy value as the names he had grown up with. 1966 H. Moore On Sculpture 167 These small figures, seen so much bigger, take on an extra importance and impressiveness, and are a proof that size itself has an emotional value. 1978 K. Hudson Jargon of Professions 1 The solidarity-value of such nonsense-language certainly should not be underestimated. 1979 J. Raban Arabia through Looking Glass v. 196 It's a synthetic soil-substitute, better than real soil by far. Its nutritional value's much higher. |
7. a. Math. The precise number or amount represented by a figure, quantity, etc.
| 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 43 Euery Figure hathe two values: One..which it hath of his Forme, and y⊇ other..whiche he taketh of his Place. a 1680 Butler Remains (1759) II. 80 A huffing Courtier is a Cypher, that has no Value himself, but from the Place he stands in. 1715 tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 477 The Resolution whereof will give the Value of the Root. 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 134/2 That he can get a Value of v to substitute in the first Equation, to bring out the Value of z true. 1823 H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 255 As the value of p increases, the planes b incline more and more on the primary planes. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. i. 2 The values of these angles..prove that the glass of the ancients differed very little from that manufactured in our own times. 1881 Nature No. 618. 417 So boron in the crystalline salt..has a higher atomic value than in its fluoride. |
b. Mus. The relative length or duration of a tone signified by a note.
| 1662 Playford Skill Mus. i. vii. (1674) 25 The Semibreve..is called the Master-Note. All the other Notes..are measured or Proportioned to its value. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Measure, The Measure is regulated according to the different Quality or Value of the Notes in the Piece. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 333/2 The value, or length in time, of the Semibreve may be considered as unity. 1869 Ouseley Counterp. xix. 157 It is not allowed, in making the answer, to change the value of the notes of the subject. |
c. Of cards, chessmen, or the like: Relative rank or importance according to the conventions of the game; the amount at which each (or each set) is reckoned in counting the score.
| 1670 Cotton Gamester (1680) 76 The value of the Cards [in Cribbage] is thus: Any fifteen upon the Cards is two. Ibid. 87 The rest of the Cards are best according to their value in pips. 1742 Hoyle Whist 27 Suppose you have..four other Cards of no Value. 1850 Bohn's Hand-Bk. Games (1867) 152 If in cutting there be two lowest cards of a like value, the holders cut again for the deal. 1874 H. Gibbs Ombre (1878) 5 ‘French Ruff,’ ‘Five-cards’ and other games in which the cards have the same value or nearly the same value as in Ombre. |
d. Painting. Due or proper effect or importance; relative tone of colour in each distinct section of a picture; a patch characterized by a particular tone.
| 1778 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. viii. (1876) 453 A certain quantity of cold colours is necessary to give value and lustre to the warm colours. 1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve II. 312 Working [at a painting] now in the forest, now at home, the lights and values had suffered. 1896 Daily News 10 Feb. 3/4 The new French stamp..is printed in two impressions full and mezzo-tint, white spaces furnishing a third value. |
| attrib. 1902 Academy 12 Apr. 392/1 Replace it in the picture, it is still a vase, but quite without value relation to the other parts of the picture. |
8. Special
Combs.:
value analysis, the systematic and critical assessment by an organization of design and costs in relation to realized value; also
transf.;
value analyst, one who undertakes a value analysis;
value calling Bridge, a system of estimating bids which takes into account the scoring values of the suits;
value engineering, the modification of designs and systems according to value analysis;
value-free a., free from criteria imposed by subjective values or standards; purely objective;
= value-neutral; hence
value-freedom;
value-judgement [
cf. G.
werturteil], a judgement predicating merit or demerit of its subject;
value-laden ppl. a. = value-loaded ppl. adj.; hence
value-ladenness;
value-loaded ppl. a., weighted or biased in favour of certain values;
value-neutral a., involving no value judgements, neutral with respect to (personal or group) values;
value-orientation, the direction given to a person's attitudes and thinking by their beliefs or standards; so
value-oriented ppl. a.;
value-system, any set of connected or interdependent values;
value theory, (
a)
Pol. Econ., the (Marxist) labour theory of value; (
b)
Philos., axiology.
| 1955 K. E. Boulding Econ. Anal. (ed. 3) xxxiii. 714 We can, therefore, perform something with the tools of economic analysis which might be called ‘value analysis’, and which should be of use in clarifying the choices involved in economic policy. 1963 Engineering 9 Aug. 162/1 When good engineering, manufacturing and purchasing practices are supplemented by value analysis, the cost of a product..can be reduced by up to 25 per cent. 1977 R. Holland Self & Social Context i. 12 It will be necessary to apply sociological techniques of value analysis in order to reach a full understanding of the theories. |
| 1969 J. Argenti Managem. Techniques 265 Some companies establish permanent teams under a Value Analyst. |
| 1927 Daily Express 8 Nov. 1/5 We do not consider that there is any general desire for the adoption of majority calling in place of value calling. |
| 1959 Ship & Boat Builder Oct. 349 (heading) Can value engineering cut costs? 1962 Engineering 19 Oct. 515 Value engineering is a well-established technique in the USA... They define it as ‘the systematic application of techniques and principles which aim at cutting production costs’. 1973 Lebende Sprachen XVIII. 73/1 Value engineering is a technique for reducing total cost while maintaining or improving the overall usefulness of the product or service. |
| 1949 J. A. Passmore in Feigl & Brodbeck Readings in Philos. of Sci. (1953) 674 (heading) Can the social sciences be value-free? 1979 Nature 19 July 185/1 Science and technology are not neutral or value-free but are instruments of power, and that means political power. 1984 Times Educ. Suppl. 30 Nov. 3/2 Europe Singh, a maths teacher..believes maths and the sciences have wrongly been considered to be neutral and value-free. |
| 1959 P. Rieff Freud viii. 299 Scientific energies, by the facile transformation of the objectivity necessary to science into..‘value-freedom’, are easily enlisted to the aims of society, whatever these may be. |
| 1892 J. Orr in Thinker II. 146 Two kinds of knowledge are distinguished by Ritschl—the one, religious knowledge which moves solely in the region of what he calls worth or value-judgments. 1899 A. E. Garvie Ritschlian Theol. 176 The theoretical judgments cannot give an intelligible unity to the world⁓whole, but the value-judgments can. 1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man xi. 229 Even in natural science, regarded as pure knowledge, one value-judgment is implicit—belief in the value of truth. 1961 Listener 30 Nov. 912/1 The decision depends on what may..be called policy considerations; that is, where the court has to make a value judgment. 1975 Amer. N. & Q. XIV. 53/2 Robert Frost's penchant for ‘the fact’ (as in ‘Mowing’) provides a useful measuring stick for determining the worth of value judgments about him. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Oct. 1085/2 The method adopted here is a detailed interpretative analysis of poetic language and structure, liberally sprinkled with value-judgments. |
| 1971 Ibid. 13 Aug. 958/4 For them, even the internal content of science is value-laden, and to some extent ideologically determined. 1977 Jrnl. Politics XXXIX. 24 The growing acceptance of the thesis that political science is necessarily a value-laden discipline. |
| 1978 M. Hesse in Hookway & Pettit Action & Interpretation 8 A distinction between two sorts of ‘value-ladenness’ in social science. |
| 1951 D. Riesman Individualism Reconsidered (1955) 33 Obviously, the very term ‘masses’ is heavily value-loaded. 1974 tr. Wertheim's Evolution & Revolution 35 To state that a given situation shows ‘progress’ or ‘evolution’.. in relation to another situation implies the use of value-loaded criteria. |
| 1946 Gerth & Mills tr. M. Weber in From Max Weber (1947) ix. 247 Even a pirate genius may exercise a ‘charismatic’ domination, in the value-neutral sense intended here. 1979 Dædalus Winter 55 ‘Excellence’ is not a value-neutral concept. |
| 1951 G. W. Allport in Parsons & Shils Toward Gen. Theory Action iv. i. 365 Prejudice is manifestly a value-orientation. 1968 W. E. Lambert et al. in J. A. Fishman Readings Sociol. of Lang. 488 In general, value orientations do not play an important role in predicting who will or will not do well in French. 1980 N. Abercrombie et al. Dominant Ideology Thesis ii. 48 System integration is defined in terms of the processes whereby value-orientation patterns are institutionalised at the social level via the mechanism of social roles with the effect of organising the behaviour of adult members of society. |
| 1962 N. J. Smelser Theory Collective Behav. iii. 49 Behind a vast array of religious and political value-oriented movements lie the same kinds of strain. 1977 Bull. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Oct. 16 It is at this point that value-oriented parameters for assessing progress become necessary. |
| 1936 Mind XLV. 288 Persons who are not Buerger (citizens)..like the Jews in Nazi Germany, or the bulk of the Bantu in the Union of South Africa. For such as these, the relation to the value-system embodied in the state is of the most tenuous and indirect kind. 1969 Listener 3 July 3/1 Two American sociologists examined the value system of a small rural town in the American Mid-West. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts June 416/2 A society in which there are overlapping different value systems which create different structures. |
| 1887 G. B. Shaw Let. 17 May (1965) I. 169 Socialism does not stand or fall by the Value Theory. 1941 Mind L. 198 The contributions to aesthetics, value-theory, theology and Spinozistic lore have all..been published before. 1966 S. Beer Decision & Control x. 221 We are now in the field of value theory, the subject which attempts to bring managerial value judgments within the compass of decision theory. 1979 D. McLellan Marxism after Marx xxiii. 309 There has been a vigorous and sophisticated defence of traditional Marxian value theory. |
Add:
[II.] [7.] e. That quality of a colour, corresponding to tone or reflectance, which when assigned a numerical value according to its degree of lightness can be used in combination with hue and chroma to identify the colour uniquely.
Cf. Munsell n.| 1902 E. N. Vanderpoel Color Probl. 131 Values, the relative amount of light contained in the different colors of a picture, design, or composition; the lightest or most luminous being called the highest in value. 1905 A. H. Munsell Color Notation i. 8 Music..defines each sound in terms of its pitch, intensity, and duration... So should color be supplied with an appropriate system, based on the hue, value, and chroma of our sensations. 1967 J. N. Barron Lang. of Painting 50 The Ostwald Color System is based on twenty-four hues around the equator of a color ‘solid’... The value is lightest at the top and darkest at the bottom. 1984 New Scientist 24 May 41/2 ‘Value’ is a measure of the relative lightness of a colour (comparable to the older term ‘tone’) and Munsell's scale was from 0 (black) to 10 (white). |
▸
value proposition n. Business and
Marketing (a summary outlining) the specific factor intended to make something attractive to the consumer.
| 1989 MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour (Nexis) (transcript of television programme) 5 Jan. In any industry..you deliver a value to your customer. It's something..that differentiates you, that makes your customer come to you versus your competitors, and we think we have a very strong *value proposition. 1999 F. J. LePla & L. M. Parker Integrated Branding xviii. 276 An effective value proposition should lead to a brand-customer relationship and drive purchase decisions. 2002 P. Kotler et al. Marketing Moves iv. 86 Offering one-stop shopping for a product category and all related items is another innovative value proposition... Wal-Mart has positioned itself as a one-stop life-needs provider. |
▪ II. value, v. (
ˈvæljuː)
Forms: 5–6
valew, 6–7
valewe, 7
vallew; 7
Sc. walow,
wallow; 6–7
vallue, 6–
value.
[f. the n. Cf. Sp. valuar, It. valutare.] I. 1. trans. To estimate or appraise as being worth a specified sum or amount. Const.
at,
† to, or with inf.
| 1482 Caxton Trevisa's Higden viii. i, They hadde as moche good and Jewellys, as was valewyd to fyve honderde thousand motons of Golde. 1535 Coverdale Lev. xxvii. 16 It shalbe valued at fiftye Sycles of syluer. 1548 Elyot s.v. Aestimo, He valewed it at iii. pence. 1627 Rep. Parishes Scotl. (Bann. Cl.) 2 We wallow it to be worth sex bollis off wictuall. Ibid. 3 Quilkis we walow at sex bollis. 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 355 Their Rings..were valued to a hundred Chickens of Malta. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 339, I valued it at Ten Pounds. 1734 R. Seymour Compl. Gamester i. 27 [In the game of Codille] a Fish is generally valued at Ten Counters. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 151 The appraisers..valued the same to four pounds. 1835 Tomlins' Law Dict. (ed. 4) s.v. Insurance, After stating that the goods should be valued at so much. |
† b. To equate in value
with something.
Obs.| 1560 Bible (Geneva) Job xxviii. 16 Wisdome..shal not be valued with the wedge of golde of Ophir, nor with the precious onix. Ibid. 19. |
2. To estimate the value of (goods, property, etc.); to appraise in respect of value.
| 1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII, c. 20 §1 Merchaundisez..to be valued after that they coste at the firste byeng or achate. 1523 Fitzherb. Bk. Survey j b, To value what the grasse of the gardens..be worth by the yere. 1535 Coverdale Lev. xxvii. 12 Y⊇ prest shal value it, whether it be good or bad, & it shal stonde at the prestes valuynge. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 19 The Presents had not yet been valu'd, among which was the Cabinet.., which could not be valu'd but by them. 1755 N. Magens Insurances I. 197 For Labour and Wood..which has not been valued, but put at least at 25 Rixdollars. 1780 Burke Œcon. Reform. Wks. III. 272, I propose to have those rights of the crown valued as manerial rights are valued on an inclosure. 1872 Morley Voltaire (1886) 206 Voltaire got his bill back, and the jewels were to be duly valued. |
| absol. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 571 Weigh with her thy self; Then value. |
† b. To rate for purposes of taxation.
Obs.—1| 1526 Tindale Luke ii. 1 All the woorlde shulde be valued. |
c. With immaterial object.
† Also
absol. with
of.
| 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier Wks. (Grosart) XI. 228 The country swaines cannot value of my worth. 1623 Heming & Condell Ded. Shaks. Folio, When we valew the places your H.H. sustaine, we cannot but know their dignity greater, then to descend to the reading of these trifles. 1676 Hale Contempl. i. 513 The Lord, who can best try, And value what is best, did pass it by. |
3. To estimate or regard as having a certain value or worth:
† a. With various constructions.
Obs.| 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxix. 129 And all their Styles together Are lesser valewed than to liue beloued of my Tuder. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. i. 53 And her wit Values it selfe so highly, that to her All matter else seemes weake. ? 1634 Earl Stirling Anacrisis ¶2, I value Language as a Conduit..: I compare a Poem to a Garden. 1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. xxiv. Apol. Philos. 247 The Swine may see the Pearl, which yet he values but with the ordinary muck. a 1667 Jer. Taylor Serm. (1673) 124 He must by it regulate his life, and value it above secular regards. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 26/1 In India the Cypress is valu'd almost equal with the Spice Trees. |
† b. With complementary predicate.
Obs.| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. iii. 14 The Queene is valued thirtie thousand strong. 1619 in Eng. & Germ. (Camden) 107 His Master is here valued to be but a silly Jesuited soule. 1638 R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II) 138 He valewes himself to be worthy of an informer, and of commissioners. 1737 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 286 Caligula valued himself a notable dancer. |
c. Const.
at or
† of (a specified amount). Also without
prep. Usually in negative clauses.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iv. i. §1 To value at little the power of the Macedonians. 1667 Dryden Sir Martin Mar-all i. i, I will not value any man's fortune at a rush, except he have wit. 1751 G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists iii. (1754) 42 They don't value Ignatius of a Hair. 1754 Richardson Corr. (1804) III. 218 If I am angry, you can't help it (as much as to say you value it not a farthing). 1848 J. Grant Aide-de-C. xxiv, He would not value his ducats..a rush. 1892 R. N. Bain tr. Jókai's Pretty Michal iv. (1897) 50 He cares not a fig for muskets, and does not value his life at a boot-lace. |
II. 4. To consider of worth or importance; to rate high; to esteem; to set store by.
| 1549 J. Cheke in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 8 Your sight is ful of gai things abrode, which I desire not, as things sufficientli known and valewd. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier Wks. (Grosart) XI. 227 Though I am disdained of a few ouerweening fooles, I am valued as well as thy selfe with the wise. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. iii. 73, I was too yong that time to value her, But now I know her. 1656 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 50, I hope..that you will pries that which is most to be valewd, which is virtue. 1703 De Foe in 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. IV. 62, I value the esteem of one wise man above abundance of blessings. 1771 Junius' Lett. liv. (1778) 293 Perhaps the example might have taught him not to value his own understanding so highly. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xii, Stir not your tongue,..as you value having an entire tooth in your head. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. 195 Instead of despising, he will approve and value their exertions. 1880 L. Stephen Pope iv. 94 He valued money, as a man values it who has been poor. |
† b. To commend or praise (
to another); to vaunt.
Obs.| 1670 R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 473 That your Lordship may value it to their Ministers in England, if you find them complaining. 1672 Ibid. 513, I have not omitted to value to them the business of the Banquiers. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 23 Apr. 1646, In this room stands the glorious inscription of Cavaliero Galeazzo Arconati, valueing his gift to the librarie of severall drawings by Da Vinci. |
† 5. With negatives: To take account of; to heed or regard; to be concerned about; to care.
Obs. Freq.
c 1630–1730 with various constructions.
| 1591 Greene Maidens Dr. xix, But like to Scauola, for countries good, He did not value for to spend his blood. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Travels 10 The foolish quality of which Bird [the booby] is to sit still, not valuing danger. 1661 in Extr. St. Papers Friends Ser. ii. (1911) 125 My opinion is thay will not vallew their Oath. 1722 De Foe Plague (1754) 84 People infected..valued not who they injur'd. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 423 You are in a condition of not valuing whether the coasts are alarm'd or not. 1765 Earl of Haddington Forest Trees 19 They do not value what soil they are set in. |
6. refl. a. To pride or plume (oneself)
on or
upon a thing.
† Also
to a person.
| 1667 Pepys Diary 27 May, He..values himself upon having of things do well under his hand. 1699 Bentley Phal. 332 Mr. B. was not ashamed to write it, nay to value himself upon 't. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 20 Pierpont valued himself to me upon this service he did his country. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. x. 413 The calm and patient turn of the Chinese, on which they so much value themselves. 1838 Lytton Alice ii. ii, A sensible and frequent..speaker,..valuing himself on not being a party man. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. ii. v. (1866) 224 Moreover.., the learned Doctor valued himself upon his logic. |
b. To think highly of (oneself)
for something.
| 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 75 What sort of an animal was the dragon, which thou valuest thyself so much for slaying? 1725 Portland Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 118 They value themselves here for making very fine kid gloves for ladies. 1743 J. Morris Serm. ii. 53 Those extraordinary gifts, for which the Corinthians so highly valued themselves. 1837 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. I. xvii. 251 Every one is in danger of valuing himself for what he does. |
† 7. To give greater value to; to raise the estimation of.
Obs. rare.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. iii. §1. 421 Hanno..and his Partisans, being neither able to taxe the vertue of their enemies,..nor to performe the like seruices vnto the Common-weale, had nothing left, whereby to value them⁓selues, excepting the generall reprehension of Warre. a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 16 It valued her the more,..and it took best with the people. 1673 Temple United Prov. Wks. 1720 I. 54 The same Qualities and Dispositions do not value a private Man and a State. |
III. † 8. To equal in value; to be equivalent to.
Obs.| 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer i. (1577) G j, Seeming unto them no golde nor siluer was inough to value them. 1624 Middleton Game at Chess iii. i, This goodness Whose worth no transitory piece can value. a 1642 Rowley Birth Merlin iv. ii, What articles or what conditions Can you expect to value half your wrong? |
† b. esp. To have the value of (so much money).
| 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1663) 12 In the Greek he writeth δραχµας, valuing six half pence a piece, the hundredth part of an Attick pound. 1611 Bible Mark xii. 15 A penny [marg.] Valewing of our money seuen pence halfe penie. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 41 An English shilling values twentie two Pice. 1658 Phillips, Julio, a kind of Italian coin,..valuing about six pence. |
† c. To be worth (nothing, more, etc.).
Obs.| 1544 tr. Littleton's Tenures 57 The parte of that one valueth much more than the part of the other. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. i, Whose reeling censure, if I valew not, It valewes naught. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iii. 52 What wer't worth to know The secret of your conference? Anne... Not your demand; it values not your asking. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 113 Gold..values more in purest prise, Then drosse. 1799 Southey Lett. (1856) I. 69 The ‘Maid of the Inn’ you selected for censure, and in my own mind it values little. |
Hence
ˈvaluing vbl. n.| 1535 [see value v. 2]. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Aestimatio, the prisyng or valuing of a thing. 1593 Queen Elizabeth Boeth. i. pr. iv. 12 The valuing of most, regardes more fortunes event, than causes merit. 1621 Stationers' Reg. 16 Nov. (Arb.) IV. 23 A Booke for the true valewing of anie commoditie. |