VAULT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does vault mean? 

• VAULT (noun)
  The noun VAULT has 4 senses:

1. a burial chamber (usually underground)

2. a strongroom or compartment (often made of steel) for safekeeping of valuables

3. an arched brick or stone ceiling or roof

4. the act of jumping over an obstacle

  Familiarity information: VAULT used as a noun is uncommon.

• VAULT (verb)
  The verb VAULT has 2 senses:

1. jump across or leap over (an obstacle)

2. bound vigorously

  Familiarity information: VAULT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VAULT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A burial chamber (usually underground)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

burial vault; vault

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 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bank vault; vault

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)

Sense 3

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 4

Meaning:

The act of jumping over an obstacle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

hurdle; vault

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))

• VAULT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they vault    ... he / she / it vaults   
Past simple: vaulted   
Past participle: vaulted   
-ing form: vaulting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Jump across or leap over (an obstacle)

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

overleap; vault

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)

Sense 2

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)

 Context examples 

His face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little vault.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This gene plays a role in vault ribonucleoprotein complex structure.

(MVP Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes major vault protein, is involved in vault ribonucleoprotein complex structure and function.

(MVP wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The king’s kitchen is indeed a noble building, vaulted at top, and about six hundred feet high.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

No, no, you will proceed into this small vaulted room, and through this into several others, without perceiving anything very remarkable in either.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

No wonder that letters addressed to people here had never received an answer: as well despatch epistles to a vault in a church aisle.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

To me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the vault.

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

The moon had not yet risen, and Ruth, gazing into the starry vault of the sky and exchanging no speech with Martin, experienced a sudden feeling of loneliness.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In addition to vaults to store seed at minus 20° Celsius, it includes laboratories, in vitro storage rooms, liquid nitrogen tanks, and animal and microorganism DNA samples.

(LatAm's largest gene bank unveiled in Brasília, Agência BRASIL)