— impaler , n. — impalement , n.
/im payl"/ , v.t., impaled, impaling .
1. to fasten, stick, or fix upon a sharpened stake or the like.
2. to pierce with a sharpened stake thrust up through the body, as for torture or punishment.
3. to fix upon, or pierce through with, anything pointed.
4. to make helpless as if pierced through.
5. Archaic. to enclose with or as if with pales or stakes; fence in; hem in.
6. Heraldry.
a. to marshal (two coats of arms, as the family arms of a husband and wife) on an escutcheon party per pale.
b. (of a coat of arms) to be combined with (another coat of arms) in this way.
Also, empale (for defs. 1-5).
[ 1545-55; impalare, equiv. to L im- IM- 1 + pal ( us ) PALE 2 + -a- thematic vowel + -re inf. ending ]