vault

The word “vault” means a strong, secure room, especially one used to store money, valuables, or important records. In plain terms, either a secure storage room, or the act of leaping over something.

“Vault” is pronounced volt (/vɑlt/ in IPA).

Here is “vault” used in a sentence: “The bank's vault held millions of dollars in cash.”

Depending on how it is used, “vault” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “vault” comes from Latin. From Old French volte ("a turn"), tracing back to Latin volvere ("to roll, to turn") — the arched shape of a vault resembles a turned or rolled curve.

“Vault” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Vault” has 4 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a strong, secure room, especially one used to store money, valuables, or important records.

A vault is a strong, secure room used to store money, valuables, or important records, large enough to walk into. A safe is a smaller box, often portable or built in, for similar purposes. Size and being a room rather than a container are the key differences.

To vault is to leap over something in one motion, usually pushing off with a hand or a pole for support. Jump is the general word and needs no support or object to clear, so vaulting is a more specific, athletic action.

A pole vault is a track-and-field event in which an athlete uses a long, flexible pole to leap over a high bar. It is a direct use of the verb vault, meaning to leap over something with the help of a pole.

Yes. Besides leaping, vault can mean to store something securely as if in a vault, as in files vaulted for safekeeping. This use echoes the noun sense of a strong, secure room.