Vault (va̤lt; see Note, below), n. [OE. voute, OF. voute, volte, F. voûte, 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, used 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: — (a) (Man.) The bound or leap of a horse; a curvet. (b) 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, orWagon, 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.