impale
verb /ɪmˈpeɪl/
/ɪmˈpeɪl/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they impale | /ɪmˈpeɪl/ /ɪmˈpeɪl/ |
| he / she / it impales | /ɪmˈpeɪlz/ /ɪmˈpeɪlz/ |
| past simple impaled | /ɪmˈpeɪld/ /ɪmˈpeɪld/ |
| past participle impaled | /ɪmˈpeɪld/ /ɪmˈpeɪld/ |
| -ing form impaling | /ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/ /ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/ |
- impale something (on something) to push a sharp pointed object through something synonym spear
- She impaled a lump of meat on her fork.
- impale somebody/yourself on something if you impale yourself on something, or are impaled on it, you have a sharp pointed object pushed into you and you may be caught somewhere by it
- He had fallen and been impaled on some iron railings.
Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘enclose with stakes’): from French empaler or medieval Latin impalare, from Latin in- ‘in’ + palus ‘a stake’.