Library / English Dictionary

VAULT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of jumping over an obstacle

Synonyms:

hurdle; vault

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("vault" is a kind of...):

jump; jumping (the act of jumping; propelling yourself off the ground)

Derivation:

vault (jump across or leap over (an obstacle))

Sense 2

Meaning:

An arched brick or stone ceiling or roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("vault" is a kind of...):

roof (a protective covering that covers or forms the top of a building)

Meronyms (parts of "vault"):

fenestella; lunette (oval or circular opening; to allow light into a dome or vault)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vault"):

barrel vault (the simplest form of vault; a single continuous arch)

groined vault (two barrel vaults intersecting at right angles)

ribbed vault (vault that resembles a groined vault but has ribbed arches)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A burial chamber (usually underground)

Synonyms:

burial vault; vault

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("vault" is a kind of...):

burial chamber; sepulcher; sepulchre; sepulture (a chamber that is used as a grave)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vault"):

charnel; charnel house (a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited)

columbarium (a sepulchral vault or other structure having recesses in the walls to receive cinerary urns)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A strongroom or compartment (often made of steel) for safekeeping of valuables

Synonyms:

bank vault; vault

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("vault" is a kind of...):

strongroom (a burglarproof and fireproof room in which valuables are kept)

Holonyms ("vault" is a part of...):

bank; bank building (a building in which the business of banking transacted)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bound vigorously

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "vault" is one way to...):

bound; jump; leap; spring (move forward by leaps and bounds)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

vaulter (an athlete who jumps over a high crossbar with the aid of a long pole)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Jump across or leap over (an obstacle)

Synonyms:

overleap; vault

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "vault" is one way to...):

bound; jump; leap; spring (move forward by leaps and bounds)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "vault"):

hurdle (jump a hurdle)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

vault (the act of jumping over an obstacle)

vaulter (an athlete who jumps over a high crossbar with the aid of a long pole)

vaulting (a light leap by a horse in which both hind legs leave the ground before the forelegs come down)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A waiter showed me into the coffee-room; and a chambermaid introduced me to my small bedchamber, which smelt like a hackney-coach, and was shut up like a family vault.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

We had a charming time poking about the ruins, the vaults where the monster tun is, and the beautiful gardens made by the elector long ago for his English wife.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

While poor Mrs. Churchill lived, I suppose there could not have been a hope, a chance, a possibility;—but scarcely are her remains at rest in the family vault, than her husband is persuaded to act exactly opposite to what she would have required.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Your most important date this month will be when the new moon solar eclipse will arrive on December 25, and this eclipse will practically open the door to a previously bolted shut vault, almost magically.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Of animal life there was no movement amid the majestic vaulted aisles which stretched from us as we walked, but a constant movement far above our heads told of that multitudinous world of snake and monkey, bird and sloth, which lived in the sunshine, and looked down in wonder at our tiny, dark, stumbling figures in the obscure depths immeasurably below them.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One is not even made wet by the rain nor cold by the frost; while death, instead of stalking about grewsome and accidental, becomes a prearranged pageant, moving along a well-oiled groove to the family vault, where the hinges are kept from rusting and the dust from the air is swept continually away.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I went down even into the vaults, where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to my very soul.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In repassing through the small vaulted room, however, your eyes will be attracted towards a large, old-fashioned cabinet of ebony and gold, which, though narrowly examining the furniture before, you had passed unnoticed.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

In such vault I had been told did Mr. Reed lie buried; and led by this thought to recall his idea, I dwelt on it with gathering dread.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)