impale

• POS: Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: im=pale
• COUNT in NET: 1 in 1 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

impale, v. t. [See 2d Empale.].

•  To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake. See Empale.  [1913 Webster]

  "Then with what life remains, impaled, and left
  To writhe at leisure round the bloody stake."  [1913 Webster]
•  To inclose, as with pales or stakes; to surround.  [1913 Webster]

  "Impale him with your weapons round about."  [1913 Webster]

  "Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire."  [1913 Webster]
•  To join, as two coats of arms on one shield, palewise; hence, to join in honorable mention.  [1913 Webster]

  "Ordered the admission of St. Patrick to the same to be matched and impaled with the blessed Virgin in the honor thereof."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

impale, v.tr.
1 (foll. by on, upon, with) transfix or pierce with a sharp instrument.
2 Heraldry combine (two coats of arms) by placing them side by side on one shield separated by a vertical line down the middle.

Derivative

impalement n.

Etymology

F empaler or med.L impalare (as IN-(2), palus stake)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

impale

v.t. In popular usage to pierce with any weapon which remains fixed in the wound. This, however, is inaccurate; to imaple is, properly, to put to death by thrusting an upright sharp stake into the body, the victim being left in a sitting position. This was a common mode of punishment among many of the nations of antiquity, and is still in high favor in China and other parts of Asia. Down to the beginning of the fifteenth century it was widely employed in "churching" heretics and schismatics. Wolecraft calls it the "stoole of repentynge," and among the common people it was jocularly known as "riding the one legged horse." Ludwig Salzmann informs us that in Thibet impalement is considered the most appropriate punishment for crimes against religion; and although in China it is sometimes awarded for secular offences, it is most frequently adjudged in cases of sacrilege. To the person in actual experience of impalement it must be a matter of minor importance by what kind of civil or religious dissent he was made acquainted with its discomforts; but doubtless he would feel a certain satisfaction if able to contemplate himself in the character of a weather-cock on the spire of the True Church.

THESAURUS

impale

agonize, auger, bayonet, bite, bloody, bore, broach, claw, convulse, countersink, crucify, dagger, dirk, dismember, draw and quarter, drill, empierce, excruciate, fix, gore, gouge, gouge out, grill, harrow, hole, honeycomb, keelhaul, kill by inches, knife, lacerate, lance, lancinate, macerate, martyr, martyrize, needle, penetrate, perforate, picket, pierce, pink, plunge in, poniard, prick, punch, puncture, punish, rack, ream, ream out, riddle, rip, run through, saber, savage, scarify, skewer, spear, spike, spit, stab, stick, stiletto, sword, tap, tar and feather, torment, torture, transfix, transpierce, trepan, trephine, wring

ROGET THESAURUS

impale

Punishment

VB punish, chastise, chasten, castigate, correct, inflict punishment, administer correction, deal retributive justice, cowhide, lambaste, visit upon, pay, pay out, serve out, do for, make short work of, give a lesson to, serve one right, make an example of, have a rod in pickle for, give it one, strike, deal a blow to, administer the lash, smite, slap, slap the face, smack, cuff, box the ears, spank, thwack, thump, beat, lay on, swinge, buffet, thresh, thrash, pummel, drub, leather, trounce, sandbag, baste, belabor, lace, lace one's jacket, dress, dress down, give a dressing, trim, warm, wipe, tund, cob, bang, strap, comb, lash, lick, larrup, wallop, whop, flog, scourge, whip, birch, cane, give the stick, switch, flagellate, horsewhip, bastinado, towel, rub down with an oaken towel, rib roast, dust one's jacket, fustigate, pitch into, lay about one, beat black and blue, beat to a mummy, beat to a jelly, give a black eye, tar and feather, pelt, stone, lapidate, masthead, keelhaul, execute, bring to the block, bring to the gallows, behead, decapitate, guillotine, decollate, hang, turn off, gibbet, bowstring, hang draw and quarter, shoot, decimate, burn, break on the wheel, crucify, empale, impale, flay, lynch, electrocute, gas, send to the gas chamber, torture, put on, put to the rack, picket, banish, exile, transport, expel, ostracize, rusticate, drum out, dismiss, disbar, disbench, strike off the roll, unfrock, post, suffer, suffer for, suffer punishment, be flogged, be executed, suffer the ultimate penalty, be hanged, come to the gallows, mount the gallows, swing, twist in the wind, dance upon nothing, die in one's shoes, be rightly served, be electrocuted, fry, ride the lightning, face the firing squad.

Opening

VB open, ope, gape, yawn, bilge, fly open, perforate, pierce, empierce, tap, bore, drill, mine, tunnel, transpierce, transfix, enfilade, impale, spike, spear, gore, spit, stab, pink, puncture, lance, stick, prick, riddle, punch, stave in, cut a passage through, make way for, make room for, uncover, unclose, unrip, lay open, cut open, rip open, throw open, pop open, blow open, pry open, tear open, pull open.