vault

English Online Dictionary. What means vault‎? What does vault mean?

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

From Middle English vaute, vowte, 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”). Cognate with Spanish vuelta (“turn”). Doublet of volute.

Noun

vault (plural vaults)

1. An arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.
2. Any arched ceiling or roof.
3. (figuratively) Anything resembling such a downward-facing concave structure, particularly the sky and caves.
   • 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.
6. Any burial chamber, particularly those underground.

   Hyponyms: crypt, mausoleum, ossuary

   Holonyms: catacomb, cuniculus

   Coordinate terms: deadhouse, morgue, mortuary

7. The secure room or rooms in or below a bank used to store currency and other valuables; similar rooms in other settings.

8. (often figurative) Any archive of past content.
9. (computing) An encrypted digital archive.
10. (obsolete) An underground or covered conduit for water or waste; a drain; a sewer.
11. (obsolete) An underground or covered reservoir for water or waste; a cistern; a cesspit.
12. (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

Derived terms

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.
2. (video games) To remove (an item, character, etc.) from a video game in an update.

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 with a hand and/or foot on the item for support.

Derived terms

• vaulter
• vaulting

Translations

Noun

vault (plural vaults)

1. An act of vaulting, formerly (chiefly) by deer; a leap or jump.
2. (gymnastics) A piece of apparatus used for performing jumps.
3. (gymnastics) A gymnastic movement performed on this apparatus.
4. (equestrianism) Synonym of volte: a circular movement by the horse.
5. (gymnastics) An event or performance involving a vaulting horse.

Translations

See also

• pole vault
• vaulting horse

Further reading

• vault on Wikipedia.Wikipedia