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/ɪmpˈeɪl/ Listen

verb

Empale v. t. (past & past part. empaled; pres. part. empaling) (Written also impale)

To fence or fortify with stakes; to surround with a line of stakes for defense; to impale. "All that dwell near enemies empale villages, to save themselves from surprise."

To inclose; to surround. See Impale.

To put to death by thrusting a sharpened stake through the body.

(Her.) Same as Impale.

Impale v. t. (past & past part. impaled; pres. part. impaling)

To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake. See Empale. "Then with what life remains, impaled, and left To writhe at leisure round the bloody stake."

To inclose, as with pales or stakes; to surround. "Impale him with your weapons round about." "Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire."

(Her.) To join, as two coats of arms on one shield, palewise; hence, to join in honorable mention. "Ordered the admission of St. Patrick to the same to be matched and impaled with the blessed Virgin in the honor thereof."

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Etymology of 'Impale'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Impale" Quotes from Famous Books

... into the mud. To run into the fence might mean that one of the rails would become entangled in the mechanism of the motor, tearing it all to pieces. Or one of the long pieces of wood might even impale the occupants ...

— The Motor Girls • Margaret Penrose

... mellow, nor had a soul left the crowd. Grayson himself seemed to feel a new access of strength from some hidden source, and his form expanded as he denounced the Trusts and the Robber Barons, and all the other iniquities that he felt it his duty to impale, but he never took his eyes from Plover; to him he was now talking with a force and directness that he had not equalled before. Time went on, and, as if half remembering some resolution, Plover's hand stole ...

— The Candidate - A Political Romance • Joseph Alexander Altsheler

... right to legislate slavery out of the Territories, yet he believed the "popular sovereign" could, by means of "unfriendly legislation," bar out the Southern settler with his slaves. It was not difficult for Mr. Davis to impale him ...

— Robert Toombs - Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage • Pleasant A. Stovall

... to make us more careful, and at the narrowest place in the path we used the utmost caution, for the rocks below rose up like dragon's teeth, ready to impale us if we should make a false step—and that white drawn face ...

— Byways Around San Francisco Bay • William E. Hutchinson

... have them in a day or two; and I doubt it will cost me thirty shillings for a microscope, but not without Stella's permission; for I remember she is a virtuoso. Shall I buy it or no? 'Tis not the great bulky ones, nor the common little ones, to impale a louse (saving your presence) upon a needle's point; but of a more exact sort, and clearer to the sight, with all its equipage in a little trunk that you may carry in your pocket. Tell me, sirrah, shall I buy it or not for you? I ...

— The Journal to Stella • Jonathan Swift

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