IMPALE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does impale mean? 

• IMPALE (verb)
  The verb IMPALE has 2 senses:

1. pierce with a sharp stake or point

2. kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole

  Familiarity information: IMPALE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPALE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they impale    ... he / she / it impales   
Past simple: impaled   
Past participle: impaled   
-ing form: impaling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pierce with a sharp stake or point

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

empale; impale; spike; transfix

Context example:

impale a shrimp on a skewer

Hypernyms (to "impale" is one way to...):

pierce; thrust (penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "impale"):

pin (pierce with a pin)

spear (pierce with a spear)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

impalement (the act of piercing with a sharpened stake as a form of punishment or torture)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

impale; stake

Context example:

the enemies were impaled and left to die

Hypernyms (to "impale" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

"Impale" entails doing...:

pierce (make a hole into)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Sentence example:

They want to impale the prisoners

Derivation:

impalement (the act of piercing with a sharpened stake as a form of punishment or torture)

 Context examples 

The post in the center, some nine feet long, was sharpened at the upper end, and was black with the stale blood of the creatures who had been impaled upon it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He has fallen or been chucked from the top, and so been impaled.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That there might also prove to be human occupants and that they were of a malevolent character was suggested by the skeleton impaled upon the bamboos, which could not have got there had it not been dropped from above.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)