impale

[im-peyl]

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.

impale

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• impaler noun
• impalement noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of impale¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of impale¹

C16: from Medieval Latin impālāre, from Latin _im- (in) + pālus _pale ²

Example Sentences

Shooting the scene where Ellie walks in just as Abby impales Joel with a broken golf club was a pivotal experience.

From Los Angeles Times

They died violently in the 1970s, one by gunfire, the other impaled on a fence during a burglary.

From Los Angeles Times

An American, 47, reportedly tried to climb over a fence in Piazza del Colosseo, presumably to get a closer look at the Colosseum, before falling and impaling himself.

From Los Angeles Times

When a dropped scalpel impales a surgeon’s foot during a procedure, she can only groan and keep cutting and sewing as the blade sticks out of her foot.

From Salon

If a cannibalistic grifter catches little Ellie, you see his machete blade impale her.

From Salon

Related Words

• prick 
• transfix