Valor, n.
Etymology: [OE. valour, OF. valor, valur, valour, F. valeur, LL. valor, fr. L. valere to be strong, or worth. See Valiant.]
[Written also valour.]
1. Value; worth. [Obs.] "The valor of a penny." Sir T. More.
2. Strength of mind in regard to danger; that quality which enables a man to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery; courage; prowess; intrepidity. For contemplation he and valor formed. Milton. When valor preys on reason, It eats the sword it fights with. Shak. Fear to do base, unworthy things is valor. B. Jonson.
3. A brave man; a man of valor. [R.] Ld. Lytton.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Courage; heroism; bravery; gallantry; boldness; fearlessness. See Courage, and Heroism.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for valor; he lists it under prowess.
Where he writes about it:
Prowess and valor imply both daring and doing; we do not speak of the prowess of a martyr, a child, or a passive sufferer. — from prowess
Valor meets odds or perils with courageous action, doing its utmost to conquer at any risk or cost; prowess has power adapted to the need; dauntless valor is often vain against superior prowess. — from prowess
Courage is a nobler word than bravery, involving more of the deep, spiritual, and enduring elements of character; such an appreciation of peril as would extinguish bravery may only intensify courage, which is resistant and self-conquering; courage applies to matters in regard to which valor and prowess can have no place, as submission to a surgical operation, or the facing of censure or detraction for conscience' sake. — from prowess