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impale
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5 dictionary results for: Impale
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
im·pale       [im-peyl] Pronunciation Key
–verb (used with object), -paled, -pal·ing.
1.to fasten, stick, or fix upon a sharpened stake or the like.
2.to pierce with a sharpened stake thrust up through the body, as for torture or punishment.
3.to fix upon, or pierce through with, anything pointed.
4.to make helpless as if pierced through.
5.Archaic. to enclose with or as if with pales or stakes; fence in; hem in.
6.Heraldry.
a.to marshal (two coats of arms, as the family arms of a husband and wife) on an escutcheon party per pale.
b.(of a coat of arms) to be combined with (another coat of arms) in this way.
Also, empale (for defs. 1–5).

[Origin: 1545–55; < ML impālāre, equiv. to L im- im-1 + pāl(us) pale2 + -ā- thematic vowel + -re inf. ending]

—Related forms
im·pal·er, noun
im·pale·ment, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
im·pale       (ĭm-pāl')  Pronunciation Key 
tr.v.   im·paled also em·paled, im·pal·ing also em·pal·ing, im·pales also em·pales
    1. To pierce with a sharp stake or point.
    2. To torture or kill by impaling.
  2. To render helpless as if by impaling.


[Medieval Latin impālāre : Latin in-, in; see in-2 + Latin pālus, stake; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

im·pale'ment n., im·pal'er n.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
impale 
1530, "to enclose with stakes, fence in," from M.L. impalare "to push onto a stake," from L. in- "in" + pallus "pole." Sense of "pierce with a pointed stake" as torture or punishment first recorded 1613.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
impale

verb
1. pierce with a sharp stake or point; "impale a shrimp on a skewer" [syn: transfix] 
2. kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole; "the enemies were impaled and left to die" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Impale

Im*pale"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Impaled; p. pr. & vb. n. Impaling.] [See 2d Empale.]

1. To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake. See Empale.

Then with what life remains, impaled, and left To writhe at leisure round the bloody stake. --Addison.

2. To inclose, as with pales or stakes; to surround.

Impale him with your weapons round about. --Shak.

Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire. --Milton.

3. (Her.) To join, as two coats of arms on one shield, palewise; hence, to join in honorable mention.

Ordered the admission of St. Patrick to the same to be matched and impaled with the blessed Virgin in the honor thereof. --Fuller.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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