Word.ws English Dictionary

vault

UK/vɒlt//vɑlt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

vault noun: an arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.

vault: an arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part...
Image: Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

vault (plural vaults)

  1. An arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.
    • The decoration of the vault of Sainte-Chapelle was much brighter before its 19th-century restoration.
    • the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley...
  2. Any arched ceiling or roof.
  3. (figuratively) Anything resembling such a downward-facing concave structure, particularly caves and the sky or firmament.
    • The stalactites held tightly to the cave's vault.
    • His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth.
      As if he now deuiſ’d some Stratageme:
      Or meant to pierce Auernus darkſome vauts.
      To pull the triple headed dog from hell.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  4. The space covered by an arched roof, particularly underground rooms and (Christianity, obsolete) church crypts.
  5. Any cellar or underground storeroom.
    • to banish rats that haunt our vault1730, Jonathan Swift, A Panegyrick on the Dean
  6. Any burial chamber, particularly those underground.
    • Holonyms: catacomb, cuniculus
    • Near-synonyms: crypt, mausoleum
  7. The secure room or rooms in or below a bank used to store currency and other valuables; similar rooms in other settings.
    • During the extreme civil disorder prior to January 22, 1976 in Beirut, Lebanon, a guerrilla force blasted the vaults of the British Bank of the Middle East in Bab Idriss and cleared out safe deposit boxes with contents valued by former Finance Minister Lucien Dahadah at $50 million, and by another...1978, Norris McWhirter (editor and compiler), Guinness Book of World Records 1978, page 400
  8. (figuratively, often) Any archive of past content.
  9. An encrypted digital archive.
    Synonyms:
    vaulting table
  10. A membraneless organelle found in most eukaryotic cells first identified in 1986.
  11. (obsolete) An underground or covered conduit for water or waste; a drain; a sewer.
  12. (obsolete) An underground or covered reservoir for water or waste; a cistern; a cesspit.
  13. (euphemistic, obsolete) A room employing a cesspit or sewer: an outhouse; a lavatory.
    Synonyms:
    bathroom

Verb (1)

vault (third-person singular simple present vaults, present participle vaulting, simple past and past participle vaulted)

  1. (transitive) To build as, or cover with a vault.
    • 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...
  2. (transitive) To store in a vault.
  3. To remove (an item, character, etc.) from a video game in an update.
    • 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...
    • While vaulting some old content may turn off a few players, Bungie seems intent on bringing as many players under its tent as possible first.2020 June 9, Gene Park, “Bungie is finally coming through with its old promise of a 10-year ’Destiny’ plan”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC...

Verb (2)

vault (third-person singular simple present vaults, present participle vaulting, simple past and past participle vaulted)

  1. (ambitransitive) To jump or leap over with a hand and/or foot on the item for support.
    • The fugitive vaulted over the fence to escape.
    • The fugitive vaulted the fence to escape.

Noun (2)

vault (plural vaults)

  1. An act of vaulting, formerly (chiefly) by deer; a leap or jump.
  2. A piece of apparatus used for performing jumps.
  3. A gymnastic movement performed on this apparatus.
    • Each vault has three segments: “preflight” (the movement from the springboard onto the table), “block” (the moment the hands touch and leave the table) and “postflight” (the flips and twists before landing). […] Handspring and Tsukahara vaults are less common than Yurchenko-style vaults, but some...2024 July 27, Maggie Astor, “Your Guide to Olympic Gymnastics: Vault”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2024
  4. Synonym of volte: a circular movement by the horse.
    Synonyms:
    volte
  5. An event or performance involving a vaulting horse.

vault meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

vault in Hindi

secure area for valuables
कोषागार koṣāgār

vault in Tamil

கவிமைமாடம், காப்பறை, நிலவறை, புதைகுழி, வசிவு, வில் வளைவுக்கூரை

vault in Marathi

vault, safe or strongbox for storing valuables
तिजोरी tij̈orī

vault in Urdu

a vault or tomb for the dead; a coffin
دخمہ daxma
More languagesFewer languages
vault in Bengali
খিলান, উল্লম্ফন, ধনুকাকৃতি ছাদ, ধনুকাকৃতি খিলান
vault in Telugu
వాల్ట్
vault in Malayalam
കമാനം, നിലവറ, കല്ലറ, നിധിശേഖരപ്പുര
vault in Kannada
ಬಾಗುಮಾಡು, ಬಾಗುಮೆತ್ತೆ, ನೆಲಮನೆ, ಕಾಪುಕೋಣೆ
vault in Punjabi
ਵਾਲਟ
vault in Gujarati
વૉલ્ટ
vault in Odia
ଭଲ୍ଟ, ଭଲ୍ଟ୍, ଭଲ୍ଟ କରିବା
vault in Nepali
भल्ट, भल्टमा, वाल्ट गर्न
vault in Arabic
قَبْو qabw
vault in Persian
کمرا kamrâ, گمبذ gombaz

Examples of vault in a sentence

  • Family members had been buried in the vault for centuries.
  • No bird flew in the blue vault of heaven, no man or beast moved upon the vast countryside which lay before us.1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
  • God said, ‘Let there be a vault through the middle of the waters to divide the waters in two.’1985, Bible (NJB), Genesis, 1:6
  • Blizzard will vault the gorgeous Hanamura and other Assault maps from Overwatch's competitive mode when 'Overwatch 2' arrives.2021 February 19, Kris Holt, “Overwatch 2 Will Ditch The Widely Disliked Assault/2CP Maps”, in Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes Media, →ISSN...
  • If Riot is set on having only seven maps in the "Valorant," that likely means Split isn't coming back and more maps will get vaulted in the future.2022 June 17, James Carr, “The Real Reason Valorant Is Dropping Its Oldest Map”, in SVG.com, archived from the original on 28 Nov 2022:

All 40 example sentences with vault

Synonyms of vault

All synonyms of vault

Forms of vault

Noun
pluralvaults
Verb
third-person singular presentvaults
present participlevaulting
past participlevaulted
pastvaulted

Past tense of vault: vaulted

Plural of vault: vaults

Origin of vault

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.

Borrowed from Middle French volter (“to turn or spin around; to frolic”), borrowed from Italian voltare, itself from a Vulgar Latin frequentative form of Latin volvere; later assimilated to Etymology 1, above.

Words formed from vault

Phrases with vault

3 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with vault

Questions about vault

What does vault mean?
Vault means an arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.
What is vault in Hindi?
Vault in Hindi is कोषागार (koṣāgār). See Vault meaning in Hindi.
How do you use vault in a sentence?
Family members had been buried in the vault for centuries.
What part of speech is vault?
Vault can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce vault?
Vault is pronounced /vɒlt/ (UK).
What is the plural of vault?
The plural of vault is vaults.

Words near vault in the dictionary

  1. Vaughns
  2. Vaughnses
  3. Vaught
  4. Vaughts
  5. vaugnerite
  6. vault
  7. vault toilet
  8. vault toilets
  9. vault-like
  10. vault-worthy
  11. vaultable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vault (page history and authors); vault (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); तिजोरी (Marathi) (page history and authors); دخمہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); vault (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); vault (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vault (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); vault (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); vault (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vault (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vault (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vault (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-vault.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-vault.wav, en-au-vault.ogg.

Cite this entry: “vault.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vault. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.