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impale

 - 3 dictionary results

im⋅pale

  [im-peyl]
Use impale in a Sentence
–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) pale 2 + -ā- thematic vowel + -re inf. ending

Related forms:
im⋅pal⋅er, noun
im⋅pale⋅ment, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To impale
im·pale   (ĭm-pāl')   
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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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