Impale

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Impale \Im*pale"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Impaled}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Impaling}.] [See 2d {Empale}.]
     1. 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.
                                                    --Addison.
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     2. To inclose, as with pales or stakes; to surround.
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              Impale him with your weapons round about. --Shak.
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              Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire. --Milton.
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     3. (Her.) To join, as two coats of arms on one shield,
        palewise; hence, to join in honorable mention.
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              Ordered the admission of St. Patrick to the same to
              be matched and impaled with the blessed Virgin in
              the honor thereof.                    --Fuller.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Empale \Em*pale"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Empaled}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Empaling}.] [OF. empaler to palisade, pierce, F. empaler
     to punish by empalement; pref. em- (L. in) + OF. & F. pal a
     pale, stake. See {Pale} a stake, and cf. {Impale}.] [Written
     also {impale}.]
     1. To fence or fortify with stakes; to surround with a line
        of stakes for defense; to impale.
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              All that dwell near enemies empale villages, to save
              themselves from surprise.             --Sir W.
                                                    Raleigh.
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     2. To inclose; to surround. See {Impale}.
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     3. To put to death by thrusting a sharpened stake through the
        body.
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     4. (Her.) Same as {Impale}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  impale
       v 1: pierce with a sharp stake or point; "impale a shrimp on a
            skewer" [syn: {transfix}, {empale}, {spike}]
       2: kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole; "the enemies
          were impaled and left to die" [syn: {stake}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  73 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  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.