“vault” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. an arched stone ceiling ○ The 11th-century vault of the chapel in the Tower of London. 2. □ vault or vaults an underground room for keeping valuables safe ○ The documents are kept in the bank vaults. 3. an underground room for burying people ○ She is buried in the family vault. 4. a high jump □ pole vault a leap over a high bar, using a pole to swing you up ○ He won the pole vault for the first time. ■ verb to jump over something by putting one hand on it to steady yourself or by using a pole ○ He vaulted over the fence and ran across the garden.

(valt; see Note, below), n. [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.]
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. 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.

v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vaulted; p. pr. & vb. n. Vaulting.] [OE. vouten, OF. volter, vouter, F. voûter. 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).

v. i. [Cf. OF. volter, F. voltiger, It. voltre 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.