empale
UK/ɪmˈpeɪl/
empale is the obsolete form of impale.
Meaning of impale
Verb
impale (third-person singular simple present impales, present participle impaling, simple past and past participle impaled)
- To pierce (something) with any long, pointed object.
- Synonyms:
- fix, stake, stick, run through, transfix
- To place two coats of arms side by side on the same shield (often those of two spouses upon marriage).
- To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake.
- To enclose or fence with stakes.
- [T]he Tovvne is impailed about halfe a mile compaſſe.1624, John Smith, “The Present Estate of Nevv-Plimoth”, in Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn]...
Verb
empale (third-person singular simple present empales, present participle empaling, simple past and past participle empaled)
- To make pale.
- No bloodless malady empales their face.1610, Giles Fletcher, Christ's Triumph after Death
Forms of empale
| third-person singular present | empales |
|---|---|
| present participle | empaling |
| past participle | empaled |
| past | empaled |
Origin of empale
From em- + pale.
Words that rhyme with empale
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- veil
- pale
- avail
- wale
- whale
- bail
- hail
- yale
- bale
- snail
- travail
- brail
- exhale
- frail
- jail
- prevail
- swale
- vail
- wail
- derail
- dwale
- entail
- flail
- Gail
- gayle
- impale
- kale
- quail
- regale
- spale
- thumbnail
- white whale
- ale
- curtail
- drail
- gale
- inhale
- retail
- shale
- tael
- unveil
- ail
- all hail
- assail
- ayel
- beyond the pale
- braille
- cakes and ale
Questions about empale
- What does empale mean?
- Empale means to make pale.
- What is empale the obsolete form of?
- Empale is the obsolete form of impale.
- What part of speech is empale?
- Empale is a verb.
- How do you pronounce empale?
- Empale is pronounced /ɪmˈpeɪl/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of empale?
- The past tense of empale is empaled.
Words near empale in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: empale (page history and authors); impale (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-impale.ogg.
Cite this entry: “empale.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/empale. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
