▪ I. vaulting, vbl. n.1 and n.
(ˈvɔːltɪŋ)
[f. vault v.1 and n.1]
1. a. The construction of a vault or vaults; the operation of covering or roofing with a vault.
| 1512 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 608 Herry Semerk shall haue duryng the tyme of the said vawtyng the vse of certeyn stuffes and necessaryes. 1552 Huloet, Vaultyng or makyng a worke wyth vaultes or vault fascion, concameratio. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 76 Then thus it is he alloweth the vaulting or arching over of the Jakes. 1647 Hexham i. s.v., A vaulting or making of an arch roofe. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 101 The fourth for the Vaulting of Sellars or any other Offices. 1850 Parker Gloss. Archit. 506 Domical..vaulting over a circular area was likewise practised by the Romans. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 465/2 Their introduction..caused an entire change in the system of vaulting. |
b. The development of a vaulted space.
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 150 When the abscess comes into relation with the costal walls, more or less vaulting, with widening and effacement of the intercostal spaces, will be manifest. |
2. The work or structure forming a vault.
| 1513 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 613 The seid John Wastell shall make and sett vpp..the vawtyng of ij porches. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 94 A silver sconce that hung from the vaulting. 1790 Pennant London (1793) 65 The vaulting of this was not finished till 1296. 1811 Milner Eccles. Archit. Eng. Pref. p. xvi, The gorgeous vaulting of King's College. 1849 Freeman Archit. 401 This produces in the vaulting of St. James an effect something like a wooden roof. 1898 Watts-Dunton Aylwin ix. iv, The vaulting (supported partly on low columns..and partly on the basement wall of the church) is therefore of unusual extent. |
| transf. and fig. 1827 Pollok Course T. x, Beyond the azure vaulting of the sky. 1851 Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. i. 1026 His truth had barred The vaulting of his life. |
b. With a and pl.: A species, example, or piece of such work.
| 1750 Wren Parentalia 290 The Romans used hemispherical Vaultings. 1797 S. Lysons Rom. Antiq. Woodchester 17 It is probable that part of the roof was formed by diagonal vaultings, resting on the four columns. 1823 Buckland Reliq. Diluv. 5 The natural vaultings that compose this subterraneous wonder. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2694/1 Vaultings, or arched roofs, are supported by ribs or groins, often intersecting each other. |
| transf. 1836 Buckland Geol. & Min. xv. §4 (1837) I. 356 The shell..is fortified by a series of ribs and vaultings disposed in the form of arches and domes. |
3. attrib., as vaulting field, vaulting pier, vaulting pillar, vaulting rib, vaulting-span, vaulting shaft, vaulting-surface.
| 1830 Whewell Archit. Notes 21 The vaulting pillars are half columns from the floor. Ibid. 44 The principal, or vaulting piers in the Romanesque style were often engaged columns. Ibid. 45 In sexpartite vaulting they supply vaulting shafts smaller and less important than the principal piers. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. viii. 99 The entire development of this cross system in connection with the vaulting ribs. a 1878 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) II. 176 In either case..the error has to be thrown into the vaulting-surfaces. 1880 Archaeol. Cant. XIII. 20 The Repton crypt, with its narrow vaulting-spans. 1886 B. Brown Schola to Cathedral iv. 159 Eight triangular vaulting fields corresponding to the eight sides of the drum from which it rises. |
▪ II. vaulting, vbl. n.2
(ˈvɔːltɪŋ)
[f. vault v.2; but in fig. uses (see 3 and 4) perh. partly suggested by the etymological sense of L. fornicātio.]
1. The action of leaping with a vault, esp. as a gymnastic exercise.
| 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xvii, There is also a ryght good exercise..whiche is named the vautynge [printed vauntynge] of a horse: that is to lepe on him at euery side without stiroppe or other helpe, specially whiles the horse is goynge. 1545 ― Dict., Desultura, lyghtynge vp and down, vaultyng of an horse. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 13, I maie commende hym for playing at weapons,..for vautyng, for plaiyng vpon Instrumentes. 1627 Hakewill Apol. (1630) 365 These forraine exercises of vauting and dancing the Moriske. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 644 Ralpho was mounted now, and gotten O'erthwart his Beast with active vau'ting. 1700 Wallis in Collect (O.H.S.) I. 318 Vaulting, leaping, and the like, are now much disused, as too violent for this softer age. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rur. Sports 443/2 By vaulting a man can easily clear his own height, and often considerably more. |
| fig. 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie i. iii. 182 Tullus goe scotfree, though thou often bragst, That for a false French-Crowne thou vaulting hadst. |
2. vaulting horse: † a. A horse mounted by vaulting, esp. one used for the exercise of leaping into the saddle without the help of a stirrup. Obs.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Desultorij equi, vaultyng horses that light souldiours vsed in warre. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iii. ix, I'ld spend twentie pound my vauting-horse stood here now. 1623 Hexham Tongue-combat Ep. Ded. 3 His Puppet..ouer whom hee insults, as vpon a vaulting-horse lowe enough for his leape. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn i. i, Instead of backing the brave steed o' mornings, To mount the chambermaid; and for a leap Of the vaulting-horse, to ply the vaulting-house. |
b. Gymnastics. A wooden figure of a horse employed for exercise in vaulting.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2694/1 Vaulting horse, a wooden horse in a gymnasium, for practice in vaulting. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 127/1 All kinds of Gymnastic Apparatus,..including..Vaulting Horses, Vaulting Bucks, Vaulting Tables. 1898 Daily News 23 March 6/2 The squad representing the School of Arms gave a very neat exhibition of vaulting-horse work. |
† 3. vaulting-house, a brothel. Also vaulting-door, the door of such a place. Obs.
| (a) 1596 Lodge Wits Miserie I iiij, Let him but looke into a vawting house, he shall play his tricks without charges. 1606 Dekker Sev. Sins iv. (Arb.) 32 Letchery is patron of al your Suburb Colledges, and sets vp Vaulting-houses, and Daunsing-Schooles. 1639 Massinger Unnatural Combat i. i, Let me but receive My pay that is behind, to set me up A tavern or a vaulting-house. While men love Or drunkenness or lechery, they'll ne'er fail me. |
| (b) 1625 Massinger Parl. Love iv. iii, No more talking, Dear keeper of the vaulting door; lead on. |
† 4. vaulting-school: a. = prec. b. (See quot. a 1700). Obs.
| 1606 H. Parrot Mousetrap 93 Vnto a Garden-house, or Vaulting-schoole. 1637 Nabbes Microcosm. ii, Ayre was my father, and my mother a light-heel'd madame that kept a vaulting-schoole at the signe of Virgo. 1672 Wycherley Love in Wood iv. v, Must my lodging be your vaulting⁓school still? Thou hast appointed a wench to come hither, I find. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Vaulting-School, a Bawdy-house; also an Academy where Vaulting, and other Manly Exercises are Taught. [Hence in later slang Dicts.] |
5. attrib. in various uses, as vaulting bar, vaulting buck, vaulting-master, vaulting motion.
| 1641 W. Stokes (title), The Vaulting Master; or the Art of Vaulting reduced to a Method. 1700 Wallis in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 317 Mr. Bosely (then a dancing-master and vaulting-master here). 1771 M. Lort in J. Granger Lett. (1805) 194 He [sc. William Stokes] was a noted vaulting-master and rope-dancer. 1839 ‘Craven’ Walker's Manly Exerc. (ed. 6) 48 This exercise is conveniently practised on the vaulting bar, which rests upon two or three posts. 1849 Chambers's Inform. People II. 643/2 Exercises [in vaulting] are performed with vaulting bars. 1870 Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle, Chess 40 The Knight is the only piece that possesses what is styled the ‘vaulting motion’. 1884 [see 2 b]. |
▪ III. vaulting, ppl. a.
(ˈvɔːltɪŋ)
[f. vault v.2]
That vaults or leaps.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 27 Vaulting Ambition, which ore-leapes it selfe, And falles on th'other. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd ii. i, Allbe he know her, As doth the vauting Hart his venting Hind. 1847 H. Miller First Impr. Eng. xiii. (1857) 217 Such always is the vaulting liberty of a false theology. 1868 I. Saxon Five Years Golden Gate 52 So wild are the speculations, and so vaulting is the ambition of the majority of business men. 1887 Stevenson Misadv. J. Nicholson i. 3 It could not come, without vaulting hyperbole, under the rubric of a gilded saloon. |
b. vaulting monkey: (see quots.).
| 1800 Shaw Gen. Zool. I. i. 51 Vaulting Monkey, Simia Petaurista. 1871 Cassell's Nat. Hist. I. 109 The White⁓nosed Monkey (Ceropithecus petaurista)... Some call it the Vaulting Monkey. |
Hence ˈvaultingly adv.
| 1890 Temple Bar Jan. 147 The Niobe was vaultingly ambitious. |