valley of death
1
9.0
- noun
- Informal
:
valle de la muerte
- The climbers entered the valley of death, a treacherous area where few have succeeded.
- walk through the valley of death
Examples
-
I walk in this valley of death.
-
If I shall walk through the valley of death, I shall have no fear.
Fiction book (1993) -
Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil...
Fiction book (1996) -
I'll pray for their souls wandering the valley of death.
Blog text (13) -
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of death..." but you've
Fiction book (1996) -
Many soldiers have found themselves in the valley of death during combat, where survival is uncertain.
-
Facing a valley of death in his career, he wasn't sure if he would be able to recover.
Synonyms
95
4.6
A very serious situation where someone may not survive
44
2.9
A time when people could be hurt or killed
13
3.8
An area or situation where people are likely to be hurt
How Dangerous
Surface Forms
Morphology
valley + of + death
The phrase combines familiar words 'valley' (a low point) and 'death' (end/demise), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can likely infer a metaphorical sense of a dangerous or fatal low point. However, the specialised entrepreneurship meaning (the specific funding/support gap between prototype and commercialisation) is domain-specific and not fully predictable from the parts, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Valley of death may come from the strong image of a deep valley where travelers could meet death, a low, dangerous place with no easy way out. So, the phrase now means 'a very dangerous situation'.