impale

American  

[im-peyl] / ɪmˈpeɪl /

verb (used with object)

impaled, impaling

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.

   1. to marshal (two coats of arms, as the family arms of a husband and wife) on an escutcheon party per pale.

   2. (of a coat of arms) to be combined with (another coat of arms) in this way.

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impale British  

/ ɪmˈpeɪl /

verb

1. to pierce with a sharp instrument

   they impaled his severed head on a spear

2. archaic to enclose with pales or fencing; fence in

3. heraldry to charge (a shield) with two coats of arms placed side by side

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Other Word Forms

• impalement noun
• impaler noun

Etymology

Origin of impale

1545–55; < Medieval Latin impālāre, equivalent to Latin im- im- ¹ + pāl ( us ) pale ² + -ā- thematic vowel + -re infinitive ending

Related Words

• prick
• transfix