Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Vault?

\Vault\ (v[add]lt; see Note, below), n. [OE. voute, OF. voute, volte, F. vo[^u]te, 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}.] 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. Note: The l in this word was formerly often suppressed in pronunciation. {Barrel}, {Cradle}, {Cylindrical}, or {Wagon}, {vault} (Arch.), a kind of vault having two parallel abutments, and the same section or profile at all points. It may be rampant, as over a staircase (see {Rampant vault}, under {Rampant}), or curved in plan, as around the apse of a church. {Coved vault}. (Arch.) See under 1st {Cove}, v. t. {Groined vault} (Arch.), a vault having groins, that is, one in which different cylindrical surfaces intersect one another, as distinguished from a barrel, or wagon, vault. {Rampant vault}. (Arch.) See under {Rampant}. {Ribbed vault} (Arch.), a vault differing from others in having solid ribs which bear the weight of the vaulted surface. True Gothic vaults are of this character. {Vault light}, a partly glazed plate inserted in a pavement or ceiling to admit light to a vault below.
\Vault\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Vaulted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Vaulting}.] [OE. vouten, OF. volter, vouter, F. vo[^u]ter. See {Vault} an arch.] 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\, v. i. [Cf. OF. volter, F. voltiger, It. volt?re turn. See {Vault}, n., 4.] 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.