VAULTS

Noun

vaults

plural of vault

Verb

vaults

Third-person singular simple present indicative form of vault

Source: Wiktionary


VAULT

Vault, n. Etym: [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.)

Definition: 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. Etym: [F. volte, It. volta, originally, a turn, and the same word as volta an arch. See the Etymology above.]

Definition: 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.] Etym: [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. Etym: [See Vault, v. i.]

Definition: 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. Etym: [Cf. OF. volter, F. voltiger, It. volt 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

20 June 2024

INSIGNIFICANTLY

(adverb) not to a significant degree or amount; “our budget will only be insignificantly affected by these new cuts”


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Coffee Trivia

The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.

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