or -school, subs. phr. (venery).—A brothel: see NANNY-SHOP. Hence VAULT, verb = to copulate, LEAP (q.v.); and VAULTER = a PERFORMER (q.v.): see GREENS and RIDE (B. E. and GROSE).
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, p. 97, s.v.
[1599. SHAKESPEARE, Henry V., v. 2. 145. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by VAULTING into my saddle … I should quickly leap into a wife.]
| Ibid. (1605), Cymbeline, i. 6. 133. | |
| Iach. Should he make me | |
| Live like Diana’s priest, betwixt cold sheets, | |
| Whiles he is VAULTING variable ramps. |
1607. DEKKER, Westward Ho! iii. 2. Now were I in an excellent humour to go to a VAULTING-HOUSE, I would break down all their glass windows,… tear their silk petticoats…. O the Gods, what I could do. Ibid., v. 3. She has tricks to keep a VAULTING HOUSE under the law’s nose. Ibid. (1607), Northward Hoe, iii. 1. How many VAULTERS have I entertained.
1639. MASSINGER, The Unnatural Combat, iv. 2.
| There is a kind of VAULTING-HOUSE not far off, | |
| Where I used to spend my afternoons, among | |
| Suburb she-gamesters; and yet, now I think on’t, | |
| I have crack’d a ring or two there, which they made | |
| Others to solder. |
