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pole vault

pole vault

3 4.4
An athletic event where athletes use a long pole to jump over a high bar
  • noun
  • /poʊl vɔlt/
translation icon : salto con pértiga
  • During practice, the coach emphasized the importance of technique in the pole vault.

So I had three weeks practice and doing all the things, trying the pole vault and, and all that kind of stuff.

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Examples

  • Jenn Suhr won pole vault at trials in June.

    Blog text (13)
  • Next event, the pole vault!

  • The events start in an elimination style: for example, consider the pole vault.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Not the discus, not the pole vault.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • "Earle Meadows won the pole vault," Hershel said.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • The world record holder in the pole vault, Sergei Bubka, has also stated his intention to move to France, although he competed on the Unified Team at Barcelona.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Juniors Ben Harmon, Scott Pettit, and David Spandorfer also won the long jump (6.67m), pole vault (4.25m), and mile run (4:23.68), respectively.

    Blog text (21)
  • In the upcoming track meet, she will compete in the pole vault after months of training.

  • He cleared the bar with ease during the pole vault event at the championship.

Synonyms

pole vaulting
vspole vault
2 4.0

Jumping over a high bar using a long pole for support

is the term for an individual athletic contest rather than the general activity
pole jump
vspole vault
4.8

A sport where a person uses a long pole to jump over a high bar

is the general athletic event term rather than naming one specific contest
pole jumping
vspole vault
4.6

A sport where a person uses a long pole to jump over a high bar

is the event name that points to an individual contest not the whole sport

How High

pole vault
3 4.4
vault
17 4.1
leap
107 1.0
jumping
2 1.0
to hop
133 1.0

Surface Forms

pole vault singular
pole vaults plural

Morphology

pole + vault

The meaning 'an athletic event involving vaulting with a pole' is directly and transparently composed from 'pole' (a long stick) + 'vault' (a jump or clearance). This straightforward noun+noun construction follows regular English compounding patterns (and similar patterns exist cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Pole vault comes from a simple, visible picture: an athlete uses a long pole to vault, that is, to push off and spring over a high bar. So the name directly shows the sport's action and means 'to jump over a high bar using a long pole'.