Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of impaling, or putting to death by driving a stake through the body.
- noun The act of inclosing with stakes, or paling.
- noun A paling or hedge; an inclosure; hence, a floral inclosure or flower-cup.
- noun A piece of ground inclosed by pales; an inclosed space.
- noun In heraldry, the marshaling side by side of two escutcheons combined in one. See
impale
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of impaling, or the state of being impaled.
- noun An inclosing by stakes or pales, or the space so inclosed.
- noun rare That which hedges in; inclosure.
- noun (Her.) The division of a shield palewise, or by a vertical line, esp. for the purpose of putting side by side the arms of husband and wife. See
Impale , 3.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The act of
torturing orexecuting someone byimpaling them on a sharpstake . - noun The
joining of twocoats of arms on oneshield .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the act of piercing with a sharpened stake as a form of punishment or torture
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The public "impalement" of adulterers, especially Presidential ones, is a crucifixion in which others suffer for the very sin that we guilt-ridden masses yearn to commit.
Adultery Finds Witty Champion, Domestic Coupledom Takes a Hit 2003
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I was surprised that impalement didn't make the list.
The 15 Most Brutal Methods Of Execution Of All Time » E-Mail 2009
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Slicing and impalement are nothing new on this show, but did anyone else feel that those scenes were slowed down even more than usual for the finale to emphasize the icky squish and splash factor?
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It's not clear which Spartan plays which Roman soldier, but there promises to be a lot of beheadings, gratuitous gore, and maybe even an impalement or two.
Neil Marshall’s ‘Centurion’ Enlists A Cast, Targets Ancient Epic » MTV Movies Blog 2009
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Yet only a few old-fashioned "impalement artists" like Dr. Adamovich are still around.
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It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or fifty other deaths.
Inspiration 2009
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Governments and churches had long maintained order by punishing nonconformists with mutilation, torture and gruesome forms of execution, such as burning, breaking, disembowelment, impalement and sawing in half.
Violence Vanquished Steven Pinker 2011
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I was surprised that impalement didn't make the list.
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Mean things: impalement, snipers, mind control, starvation, vampires, interfering avatars of dead Hollywood starlets, not getting to hear the end of the song.
she got a six foot pitchfork. i see the wrecking ball. matociquala 2009
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Throw, as he is called by his many friends and admirers in the impalement arts, is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world's fastest and most accurate knife thrower.
Jerry Zezima: "Have a Knife Day" Jerry Zezima 2010
reesetee commented on the word impalement
Apparently, it happens to some Robin Redbreasts. See poop for further enlightenment.
October 25, 2007