Lunette vs. Vault — What's the Difference?

A lunette (French lunette, "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs.

An arched structure, usually of masonry or concrete, serving to cover a space.

A small, circular or crescent-shaped opening in a vaulted roof.

An arched overhead covering, such as the sky, that resembles the architectural structure in form.

A crescent-shaped or semicircular space, usually over a door or window, that may contain another window, a sculpture, or a mural.

A room or space, such as a cellar or storeroom, with an arched ceiling, especially when underground.

A fortification that has two projecting faces and two parallel flanks.

A room or compartment, often built of steel, for the safekeeping of valuables

A broad, low-lying, typically crescent-shaped mound of sandy or loamy matter that is formed by the wind, especially along the windward side of a lake basin.

A burial chamber, especially when underground.

(architectural element) A small opening in a vaulted roof of a circular or crescent shape.

(Anatomy) An arched part of the body, especially the top part of the skull.

(architectural element) A crescent-shaped recess or void in the space above a window or door. a lunette in the Thomas Jefferson building of the US Library of Congress

The act of vaulting; a jump.

(obsolete) An image or other representation of a crescent moon.

A piece of gymnastic equipment with an upholstered body used especially for vaulting. Also called vaulting horse.

(fortifications) A field work consisting of two projecting faces forming a wedge each of which extends from one of two parallel flanks. two kinds of lunette fortification

To construct or supply with an arched ceiling; cover with a vault.

(Christianity) A luna: a crescent-shaped receptacle, often glass, for holding the (consecrated) host (the bread of communion) upright when exposed in the monstrance.

To build or make in the shape of a vault; arch.

A type of flattened glass used in watch-making.

To jump or leap over, especially with the aid of a support such as the hands or a pole.

The circular hole in the guillotine in which the victim's neck is placed.

To jump or leap, especially with the use of the hands or a pole.

(geology) A type of crescent-shaped dune blown up along a lake basin, especially in dry areas of Australia.

To accomplish something suddenly or vigorously

(farriery) A half horseshoe, lacking the sponge.

An arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.

A piece of felt to cover the eye of a vicious horse.

Any arched ceiling or roof.

An iron shoe at the end of the stock of a gun carriage.

Anything resembling such a downward-facing concave structure, particularly the sky and caves.

(in the plural) See lunettes.

The space covered by an arched roof, particularly underground rooms and church crypts.

A fieldwork consisting of two faces, forming a salient angle, and two parallel flanks. See Bastion.

Any cellar or underground storeroom.

A half horseshoe, which lacks the sponge.

Any burial chamber, particularly those underground.

A kind of watch crystal which is more than ordinarily flattened in the center; also, a species of convexoconcave lens for spectacles.

The secure room or rooms in or below a bank used to store currency and other valuables; similar rooms in other settings.

A piece of felt to cover the eye of a vicious horse.

Any archive of past content.

Any surface of semicircular or segmental form; especially, the piece of wall between the curves of a vault and its springing line.

(computing) An encrypted digital archive.

An iron shoe at the end of the stock of a gun carriage.

An underground or covered conduit for water or waste; a drain; a sewer.

Temporary fortification like a detached bastion

An underground or covered reservoir for water or waste; a cistern; a cesspit.

Oval or circular opening; to allow light into a dome or vault

A room employing a cesspit or sewer: an outhouse; a lavatory.

An act of vaulting, formerly by deer; a leap or jump.

(gymnastics) A piece of apparatus used for performing jumps.

(gymnastics) A gymnastic movement performed on this apparatus.

(equestrianism) volte: a circular movement by the horse.

(gymnastics) An event or performance involving a vaulting horse.

(transitive) To build as, or cover with a vault.

(ambitransitive) To jump or leap over.

An arched structure of masonry, forming a ceiling or canopy.

An arched apartment; especially, a subterranean room, used for storing articles, for a prison, for interment, or the like; a cell; a cellar.

The canopy of heaven; the sky.

A leap or bound.

To form with a vault, or to cover with a vault; to give the shape of an arch to; to arch; as, to vault a roof; to vault a passage to a court.

To leap over; esp., to leap over by aid of the hands or a pole; as, to vault a fence.

To leap; to bound; to jump; to spring.

To exhibit feats of tumbling or leaping; to tumble.

A burial chamber (usually underground)

A strongroom or compartment (often made of steel) for safekeeping of valuables

An arched brick or stone ceiling or roof

The act of jumping over an obstacle

Jump across or leap over (an obstacle)

Bound vigorously