vault

English

WOTD – 4 December 2008
A vault scheme

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /vɒlt/, /vɔːlt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /vɑlt/, /vɔlt/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːlt, Rhymes: -ɒlt
  • Homophone: volt (in some accents)
  • The l was originally suppressed in pronunciation.

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French volte (modern voûte), from Vulgar Latin *volta < *volvita or *volŭta, a regularization of Latin volūta (compare modern volute (“spire”)), the past participle of volvere (“roll, turn”). Doublet of volute.

A multiple-exposure image of a gymnast performing a vault on a vaulting table

Noun

vault (plural vaults)

  1. An arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.
    The decoration of the vault of Sainte-Chapelle was much brighter before its 19th-century restoration.
    • Gray
      the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
  2. Any arched ceiling or roof.
  3. (figuratively) Anything resembling such a downward-facing concave structure, particularly the sky and caves.
    The stalactites held tightly to the cave's vault.
    • Shakespeare
      that heaven's vault should crack
    • Sandys
      the silent vaults of death
    • 1985, Bible (NJB), Genesis, 1:6:
      God said, ‘Let there be a vault through the middle of the waters to divide the waters in two.’
  4. The space covered by an arched roof, particularly underground rooms and (Christianity, obsolete) church crypts.
  5. Any cellar or underground storeroom.
    • Jonathan Swift
      to banish rats that haunt our vault
  6. Any burial chamber, particularly those underground.
    Family members had been buried in the vault for centuries.
  7. The secure room or rooms in or below a bank used to store currency and other valuables; similar rooms in other settings.
    The bank kept their money safe in a large vault.
  8. (gymnastics) A piece of apparatus used for performing jumps.
  9. (gymnastics) A gymnastic movement performed on this apparatus.
  10. (computing) An encrypted digital archive.
  11. (obsolete) An underground or covered conduit for water or waste; a drain; a sewer.
  12. (obsolete) A underground or covered reservoir for water or waste; a cistern; a cesspit.
  13. (obsolete, euphemistic) A room employing a cesspit or sewer: an outhouse; a lavatory.
Synonyms
  • (outhouse or lavatory): See Thesaurus:bathroom
  • (gymnastic apparatus): vaulting table
Hyponyms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

vault (third-person singular simple present vaults, present participle vaulting, simple past and past participle vaulted)

  1. (transitive) To build as, or cover with a vault.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      The shady arch that vaulted the broad green alley.
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French volter (“to turn or spin around; to frolic”), borrowed from Italian voltare, itself from a Vulgar Latin frequentative form of Latin volvere; later assimilated to Etymology 1, above.

Verb

vault (third-person singular simple present vaults, present participle vaulting, simple past and past participle vaulted)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To jump or leap over.
    The fugitive vaulted over the fence to escape.
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

vault (plural vaults)

  1. An act of vaulting, formerly (chiefly) by deer; a leap or jump.
  2. (equestrianism) Synonym of volte: a circular movement by the horse.
  3. (gymnastics) An event or performance involving a vaulting horse.
Translations

See also

References

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