vault means an arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building. It carries an Arena rating of 1708, earned across 15 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, vault ranks #237 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #279 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #538 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,417 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
vault is pronounced /vɒlt/.
Why “vault” is a great word
An arched masonry structure forming a ceiling or roof, or the act of constructing such a structure or storing valuables within one. From Middle English *vaute*, from Old French *volte*, from Vulgar Latin *volta*, from Latin *volūta*, the past participle of *volvere* ("to roll, turn"). Cognate with Spanish *vuelta* ("turn") and Portuguese *volta* ("turn"). Doublet of *volute*. Displaced native Old English *hwealf*. First attested in English c. 1300. Unlike an "arch," a single spanning element, a vault is an enclosing sky of stone; unlike a "safe," a metal box, a vault is a room-sized fortress of solidity. It is the cool, reverberant darkness under a cathedral's ribs, the gravitational defiance of a bank's impregnable chamber, and the coiled energy in an athlete's leap—a word that rolls from the weight of the world into the act of springing free from it.
Etymology
From Middle English vaute, vowte, from Old French volte (modern voûte), from Vulgar Latin *volta < *volvita or *volŭta, a regularization of Latin volūta (compare modern volute (“spire”)), the past participle of volvere (“roll, turn”). Cognate with Spanish vuelta (“turn”) and Portuguese volta ("turn"). Doublet of volute. Displaced native Old English hwealf.
noun
- An arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.e.g.“The decoration of the vault of Sainte-Chapelle was much brighter before its 19th-century restoration.”
- Any arched ceiling or roof.
- Anything resembling such a downward-facing concave structure, particularly caves and the sky or firmament.e.g.“The stalactites held tightly to the cave's vault.”
- The space covered by an arched roof, particularly underground rooms and (Christianity, obsolete) church crypts.
- Any cellar or underground storeroom.e.g.“to banish rats that haunt our vault” — 1730, Jonathan Swift, A Panegyrick on the Dean:
- Any burial chamber, particularly those underground.e.g.“Holonyms: catacomb, cuniculus”
- The secure room or rooms in or below a bank used to store currency and other valuables; similar rooms in other settings.
- Any archive of past content.
- An encrypted digital archive.
- A membraneless organelle found in most eukaryotic cells first identified in 1986.
- An underground or covered conduit for water or waste; a drain; a sewer.
- An underground or covered reservoir for water or waste; a cistern; a cesspit.
- A room employing a cesspit or sewer: an outhouse; a lavatory.
- An act of vaulting, formerly (chiefly) by deer; a leap or jump.
- A piece of apparatus used for performing jumps.
- A gymnastic movement performed on this apparatus.
- Synonym of volte: a circular movement by the horse.
- An event or performance involving a vaulting horse.
verb
- To build as, or cover with a vault.e.g.“The shady arch that vaulted the broad green alley.” — 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longm
- To store in a vault.
- To remove (an item, character, etc.) from a video game in an update.e.g.“In future updates, most likely in season six, more items will get vaulted.” — 2018 August 31, Steven Asarch, “'Fortnite' Developer Update 5.40: Storm Destruction, Revolver in Vault”, in Newsweek, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek Publishing LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original
- To jump or leap over with a hand and/or foot on the item for support.e.g.“The fugitive vaulted over the fence to escape.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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