vault Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a burial chamber (usually underground)
    burial vault.
  2. noun a strongroom or compartment (often made of steel) for safekeeping of valuables
    bank vault.
  3. noun an arched brick or stone ceiling or roof
  4. noun the act of jumping over an obstacle
    hurdle.
  5. verb jump across or leap over (an obstacle)
    overleap.
  6. verb bound vigorously

WordNet

Vault noun
Etymology
OE. voute, OF. voute, volte, F. voûte, LL. volta, for voluta, volutio, fr. L. volvere, volutum, to roll, to turn about. See Voluble, and cf. Vault a leap, Volt a turn, Volute.
Definitions
  1. (Arch.) An arched structure of masonry, forming a ceiling or canopy.
    The long-drawn aisle and fretted vault. Gray.
  2. An arched apartment; especially, a subterranean room, use for storing articles, for a prison, for interment, or the like; a cell; a cellar. "Charnel vaults." Milton.
    The silent vaults of death. Sandys.
    To banish rats that haunt our vault. Swift.
  3. The canopy of heaven; the sky.
    That heaven's vault should crack. Shak.
  4. F. volte, It. volta, originally, a turn, and the same word as volta an arch. See the Etymology above. A leap or bound. Specifically: -- (a) (Man.) The bound or leap of a horse; a curvet. (b) A leap by aid of the hands, or of a pole, springboard, or the like. ✍ The l in this word was formerly often suppressed in pronunciation.
Vault transitive verb
Etymology
OE. vouten, OF. volter, vouter, F. voûter. See Vault an arch.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Vaulted; present participle & verbal noun Vaulting
Definitions
  1. To form with a vault, or to cover with a vault; to give the shape of an arch to; to arch; as, vault a roof; to vault a passage to a court.
    The shady arch that vaulted the broad green alley. Sir W. Scott.
  2. See Vault, v. i. To leap over; esp., to leap over by aid of the hands or a pole; as, to vault a fence.
    I will vault credit, and affect high pleasures. Webster (1623).
Vault intransitive verb
Etymology
Cf. OF. volter, F. voltiger, It. voltre turn. See Vault, n., 4.
Definitions
  1. To leap; to bound; to jump; to spring.
    Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself. Shak.
    Leaning on his lance, he vaulted on a tree. Dryden.
    Lucan vaulted upon Pegasus with all the heat and intrepidity of youth. Addison.
  2. To exhibit feats of tumbling or leaping; to tumble.

Webster 1913