Wiktionary

vault

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 4 December 2008
 
A vault scheme

PronunciationEdit

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

Etymology 1Edit

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.

NounEdit

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.
  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.
  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.
    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. (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.
SynonymsEdit
HyponymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
crypt — see crypt
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

VerbEdit

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.
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

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.

VerbEdit

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.
    The fugitive vaulted the fence to escape.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

vault (plural vaults)

 
A multiple-exposure image of a gymnast performing a vault on a vaulting table
  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.
TranslationsEdit
equestrianism: circular movement by the horse — see volte

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

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