Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To pierce with a sharp stake or point.
- transitive verb To torture or kill by impaling.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To fix upon a stake; drive or thrust a sharpened stake through: an ancient and Oriental mode of capital punishment.
- Hence Figuratively, to render helpless as if pierced through or impaled: as, to
impale a person upon his own argument or upon the horns of a dilemma. - To surround or inclose with or as with stakes, posts, or palisades.
- In heraldry, to display side by side on one shield, separated palewise each from the other, as when the arms of husband and wife are represented together.
- Hence — To place side by side as of similar importance and signification.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake. See
empale . - transitive verb To inclose, as with pales or stakes; to surround.
- transitive verb (Her.) To join, as two coats of arms on one shield, palewise; hence, to join in honorable mention.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb to
pierce with apale ; to put to death byfixing on a sharpstake . - verb more generally, to pierce (something) with any long, pointed object.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole
- verb pierce with a sharp stake or point
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word impale.
Examples
-
Fleming, a three-time Grammy Award winner who specializes in opera and lieder, provided constructive criticism to the singers after each of their individual performances in the master class, which was organized by the Office for the Arts. The American artist challenged the four student performers-Bridget Haile '11, M.chael D. Cherella' 11, Francesca R.L. Reindel '11, and Sofia M. Selowsky' 12-to "get out of the comfort zone" and to "impale" audience members with their singing.
The Harvard Crimson | All Articles BETHINA LIU 2010
-
Fleming, a three-time Grammy Award winner who specializes in opera and lieder, provided constructive criticism to the singers after each of their individual performances in the master class, which was organized by the Office for the Arts. The American artist challenged the four student performers-Bridget Haile '11, M.chael D. Cherella' 11, Francesca R.L. Reindel '11, and Sofia M. Selowsky' 12-to "get out of the comfort zone" and to "impale" audience members with their singing.
The Harvard Crimson | All Articles BETHINA LIU 2010
-
You cannot impale your main character through the heart and have him continue to frolic about.
Terminator Offers Some Lessons for the Salvation of Your Novel 2009
-
People passed between them holding umbrellas like lances, ready to impale body parts in their way, but she paid them no attention.
Bliss Foster Trecost 2011
-
You cannot impale your main character through the heart and have him continue to frolic about.
Archive 2009-12-01 2009
-
It's not going to impale you on its tree of thorns, y'know
It's not going to impale you on its tree of thorns, y'know pabba 2009
-
Love that she was powerful enough to send Damon flying and impale him on a tree.
'The Vampire Diaries' recap: Damon's plan revealed | EW.com 2009
-
People passed between them holding umbrellas like lances, ready to impale body parts in their way, but she paid them no attention.
Bliss Foster Trecost 2011
-
Inspired by the classic magic trick of sticking knives (and not killing anyone), it features wooden “swords” that “impale” the unit as supports or racks for your clothes.
-
Take your umbrella to the bookfest and be prepared to impale anyone who stands in your way on a rusty metal spike.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.