dale

dale — noun

1. a stretch of low land lying between hills or mountains, often with a stream or r

1.名詞B2
釋義

a stretch of low land lying between hills or mountains, often with a stream or river flowing through it.

例句

Asher followed the footpath into the dale, where a narrow stream ran between the hills.

preposition: into the dale

The village of Norbury sits in a peaceful dale surrounded by green farmland.

同義詞
  • valley

    the standard, neutral word for this landform; 'dale' is far less common

  • vale

    poetic or literary, similar register but even rarer than 'dale'

  • glen

    Scottish English for a narrow, often steep-sided valley

反義詞
  • hill

    the elevated land that rises above a dale on either side

  • ridge

    the top edge of the hills that frame a dale

文法句型

a + dale

the + dale

用法筆記

More common in literary or place-name contexts than in everyday speech; in ordinary conversation, valley is the usual word.

常見錯誤

❌We walked through the dale near Taipei.
✅We walked through the valley near Taipei.
💡'dale' is rarely used for non-British landscapes; 'valley' is the neutral term.

2. a scenic region of northern England (especially the Yorkshire Dales) known for i

2.名詞B2
釋義

a scenic region of northern England (especially the Yorkshire Dales) known for its hills, valleys, stone-walled fields, and walking trails.

例句

The Otis family spent a week hiking through the Yorkshire Dales last summer.

proper noun: Yorkshire Dales

Dry-stone walls crisscross the Dales, marking field boundaries that are centuries old.

同義詞

文法句型

the + Dales

Yorkshire + Dales

用法筆記

When capitalised as the Dales or the Yorkshire Dales, it refers to a specific national-park area in North Yorkshire, England. The uncapitalised plural dales can describe similar landscapes in other parts of northern Britain.

常見錯誤

❌I visited the dale last weekend.' (meaning the Yorkshire Dales)
✅I visited the Dales last weekend.
💡when referring to the specific region in Yorkshire, capitalise and use the plural.

3. Sir Henry Hallett Dale (1875–1968), an English scientist who won the Nobel Prize

3.名詞C1
釋義

Sir Henry Hallett Dale (1875–1968), an English scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936 for discovering how nerve signals travel across synapses using chemical messengers.

例句

Sir Henry Dale showed that nerve endings release acetylcholine to carry signals between nerve cells.

discovery: chemical transmission across synapses

Dale's Nobel-winning work on chemical signalling is celebrated each year at the Royal Society's Dale Lecture.

proper noun: Dale Lecture; field: chemical signalling

用法筆記

This refers only to the person; 'Dale' in this sense is always capitalised and used with the title 'Sir' or as part of a compound name.

常見錯誤

❌Henry Dale was a colonial governor.
✅Sir Henry Dale was a physiologist. Sir Thomas Dale was the colonial governor.
💡two different historical figures share the surname Dale.

4. Sir Thomas Dale (died 1619), an English naval officer who governed the Jamestown

4.名詞C1
釋義

Sir Thomas Dale (died 1619), an English naval officer who governed the Jamestown colony in Virginia and created one of the earliest legal codes in English America.

例句

Sir Thomas Dale introduced a legal code that helped bring order to the Virginia Colony.

proper noun: Sir Thomas Dale

Dale's reforms at Jamestown included new farming rules and military discipline for settlers.

用法筆記

Less widely known than Sir Henry Dale; historical sources refer to him as 'Sir Thomas Dale, Knight' or 'Governor Dale of Virginia'.

常見錯誤

❌Thomas Dale was a famous physiologist.
✅Thomas Dale was a colonial governor in Virginia. Sir Henry Dale was the Nobel-winning physiologist.
💡two different historical figures share the surname Dale.