Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Impale |
ImpaleVerb1. Pierce with a sharp stake or point; "impale a shrimp on a skewer". 2. Kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole; "the enemies were impaled and left to die". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "impale" was first used: 1530. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Satire | 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. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: ImpaleSynonyms: empale (v), spike (v), stake (v), transfix (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Opening | Perforate, pierce, empierce, tap, bore, drill; mine; (scoop out); tunnel; transpierce, transfix; enfilade, impale, spike, spear, gore, spit, stab, pink, puncture, lance, stick, prick, riddle, punch; stave in. |
Punishment | 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. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Impale |
| English words defined with "impale": butcherbird ♦ Impaled, Impaling, iron maiden ♦ Stick. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "impale": Nine-killer. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Vampires need only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame. (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver; writing credit: Amy Hennig) Are you talking to me hoping that I'll get so depressed that I'll impale myself on a fork right in front of you? (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| "Impale" is generally used as a lexical verb (base form) -- approximately 60.00% of the time. "Impale" is used about 15 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 60% | 9 | 117,287 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 40% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 15 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "impale": impale oneself on. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
impale impaled impalement | 4 |
impale | 4 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "impale"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | shpoj (bore, broach, drill, drive, flesh, hole, jab, perforate, Pierce, pink, poke, prick, prickle, punch, puncture, run through, Spike, spit, stab, stick, sting), ndëshkoj me ngulje në lell, çaj (break, char, cleave, cut, dissect, fissure, forge, open, pink, puncture, push through, slash, slit, split, tea, tear, worm). (various references) | |
Arabic | غرز السيخ, طوق (band, be hemmed in, belt, besiege, cincture, circle, circumvent, clip, collar, compass, corral, embrace, encircle, enclose, encompass, enfold, entrench, envelop, fret, gird, girdle, hedge, hem, hoop, inclose, include, invest, outflank, ring, round, strap, surround, take off, zone), طعن (aspersion, jab, jag, knife, libel, pike, put a knife into smb., put off, recourse, remedy, slander, stab, strike, thrust, thrusting, transfix), خوزق, أسعد (make, please, warm). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | съединявам (aggregate, band, butt, clutch, compound, concatenate, conjoin, couple, incorporate, inosculate, interlock, join, join up, knee, knit, link, marry, mate, piece, piece together, rejoin, splice, tag, tie, tie in, unite), ограждам с колове, набивам на кол, пронизвам (peg at, penetrate, rend, search, shoot through, spear, strike, thrust through, transfix, transpierce), пробождам (jab, prong, puncture, run through, skewer, stick, thrust through, transfix). (various references) | |
Chinese | 刺穿 (Impaled, Impaling, Pierce, Pierced). (various references) | |
Czech | probodnout (Pierce, Pike, pink, prick, stab, stick, transfix), narazit na kùl, napíchnout co na co. (various references) | |
Dutch | spietsen. (various references) | |
Esperanto | palisumi. (various references) | |
Farsi | میله کشیدن , محدودکردن (Bound, Compass, Confine, Cramp, Curb, Dam, Gag, Limit, Narrow, Qualify, Quantify, Restrict, Stint, Straiten, Terminate), چهارمیل کردن , سوراخ کردن 1 (Bore, Broach, Delve, Gimlet, Gore, Notch, Perforate, Punch, Puncture, Scuttle, Slot, Spit, Stab, Steek, Stick, Thrust, Transfix), احاطه کردن (Beset, Box, Circle, Circuit, Corral, Encircle, Encompass, Envelop, Girdle, Hedge, Hem, Hoop, Orb, Pale, Ring, Skirt, Sphere), برچوب اویختن . (various references) | |
French | encercler, empaler, donner des coups de couteau. (various references) | |
German | aufspießen (Gore, pin, prong, run through, skewer, spear, Spike). (various references) | |
Greek | σουβλίζω (prickle, skewer), παλουκώνω, ανασκολοπίζω, διατρυπώ (bore, perforate, to drill, to perforate, to press, to punch, to stamp, transfix). (various references) | |
Hungarian | felnyársal (to horn, to spear, to spit). (various references) | |
Italian | impalare, immobilizzare (immobilise, immobilize, pinion). (various references) | |
Manx | saih (impalement, plant, stab, stabbing, thrust, trundle), roighey, cur paayl er, boallaghey (enclose, to wall). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | impaleay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | enfraquecimento (abatement, attenuation, decay, decline, deterioration, down grade, enervation, extenuation, fading, failing, fair, labefaction, loss, run out), empalar (impalement). (various references) | |
Romanian | trage în ţeapã (pale), înconjura cu un grad, înţepa cu suliţa. (various references) | |
Russian | пронзать (gride, spear, speared, spearing, transfix). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | naticati (compete), nabijati (bulge, jam, scutch, stuff). (various references) | |
Spanish | empalar. (various references) | |
Swedish | spetsa på en påle. (various references) | |
Thai | แทง (มักใช้รูป passive voice). (various references) | |
Turkish | kazık sokmak, kazığa oturtmak (pale). (various references) | |
Ukranian | обгороджувати частоколом (picket), проколювати (broach, peg, pin, prick, prickle, puncture, skewer). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | in-, transfodit. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "impale": impaled, impalement, impalements, impaler, impalers, impales. (additional references) | |
| |
"Impale" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: apale, dimpal, Emdale, imbile, imeal, impa, impage, impail, impal, impaler, impare, implace, implu, impol, inpala, ipole, Omphale. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "impale" (pronounced i'mpā"l) |
| 3 | -p ā" l | pail, pale. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-i-l-m-p" | |
-1 letter: ample, email, impel, limpa, maile, maple, milpa, pilea. | |
-2 letters: alme, amie, ilea, lame, lamp, leap, lima, lime, limp, lipa, lipe, mail, male, meal, mile, pail, pale, palm, peal, pial, pile, pima, plea, plie. | |
-3 letters: ail, aim, ale, alp, ami, amp, ape, elm, imp, lam, lap, lea, lei, lie, lip, mae, map, mel, mil, pal, pam, pea, pia, pie. | |
-4 letters: ae, ai, al, am, el, em, la, li, ma, me, mi, pa, pe, pi. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-i-l-m-p" | |
+1 letter: impaled, impaler, impales, impanel, impearl, implead, lempira, maniple, maplike, palmier. | |
+2 letters: empaling, episomal, impalers, impanels, impearls, imperial, impleads, lempiras, manciple, maniples, misplace, misplead, palmiest, palmlike, playtime, plumeria, primeval, proemial. | |
+3 letters: amphibole, amplidyne, amplified, amplifier, amplifies, amplitude, campanile, diplomaed, diplomate, eclampsia, eclamptic, empirical, emplacing, emplaning, epidermal, exampling, impaneled, impearled, imperials, implanted, implanter, impleaded, implicate, imputable, manciples, misplaced, misplaces, misplayed, mispleads, multipage, nemophila, palmitate, penultima, piecemeal, plainsmen, playtimes, plumerias, polemical, policeman, polyamide, polyamine, prolamine, reimplant, verapamil. | |
+4 letters: accomplice, alphameric, amphiboles, amphiphile, amplidynes, amplifiers, amplitudes, bipedalism, campaniles, compatible, complained, complainer, compliance, complicate, diplomates, eclampsias, empaneling, epidemical, epididymal, episomally, epitomical, hemiplegia, hemophilia, impalement, impalpable, impaneling, impanelled, impartible, impassable, impassible, impearling, impeccable, impeccably, imperially, impersonal, implacable, implanters, impleading, implicated, implicates, importable, improbable, improvable, impugnable, manipulate, maxilliped, metaplasia, misapplied, misapplies, misplanned, misplanted, mispleaded, multipaned, multiphase, nemophilas, palimonies, palimpsest, palindrome, palmitates, parimutuel, parliament, pedimental, penultimas, permillage, phlegmatic, pilgrimage, planimeter, polyamides, polyamines, polygamies, polygamize, premarital, premaxilla, premedical, primevally, proclaimed, proclaimer, prolamines, psalmodies, psalterium, reimplants, resampling, semipostal, slipstream, specialism, spermatial, stepfamily, trampoline, verapamils. | |
+5 letters: accomplices, amphibolies, amphibolite, amphiphiles, amylopectin, aspergillum, bipedalisms, blasphemies, blaspheming, compactible, compatibles, complainers, compliances, complicated, complicates, dimercaprol, diplomacies, ectoplasmic, empanelling, empirically, endoplasmic, epithalamia, epithalamic, epithelioma, esemplastic, exemplarily, exemplarity, hemiplegias, hemophiliac, hemophilias, homoplasies, hypokalemia, hypokalemic, impalements, impanelling, impassively, impatiently, impeachable, imperialism, imperialist, impermeable, implantable, implausible, implicative, impregnable, impregnably, kleptomania, lamplighter, leprosarium, lifemanship, maladaptive, malpractice, manipulable, manipulated, manipulates, mantelpiece, marlinspike, maxillipeds, megalopolis, mesopelagic, metaplasias, metaplastic, milliampere, mispleading, misshapenly, multiplayer, myelopathic, palimpsests, palindromes, palmistries, parallelism, paramedical, parliaments, patelliform, paternalism, pelargonium, penultimate, peristomial, permillages, peroxisomal, personalism, phantomlike, pilgrimaged, pilgrimages, planetarium, planimeters, planimetric, plasminogen, platemaking, plebeianism, pleinairism, polarimeter, polarimetry, polemically, policewoman, polygamized, polygamizes, polymathies, preliminary, premaxillae, premedieval, preterminal, primalities, problematic, proclaimers, proximately, reimplanted, scopolamine, semipopular, semipostals, sempiternal, slipstreams, specialisms, spermicidal, superfamily, sympetalies, temporality, temporalize, temporarily, timepleaser, trampoliner, trampolines, ultrasimple, unamplified, unempirical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)49 6D 70 61 6C 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).. -- .--. .- .-.. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001001 01101101 01110000 01100001 01101100 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)I m p a l e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0049 006D 0070 0061 006C 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)437982677871 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
