Vault (?), n. [OE. voute, OF. voute, volte, F. voute, 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:
- Man. The bound or leap of a horse; a curvet.
- 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, ∨ 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.
© Webster 1913.
Vault (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vaulted; p. pr. & vb. n. Vaulting.] [OE. vouten, OF. volter, vouter, F. vouter. 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).
© Webster 1913.
Vault, 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.
© Webster 1913. | 
