Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EM-PALE, v.t. [Port. empalar; Sp. id.; It. impalare; Fr. empaler; en, in, and L. palus, It. and Sp. palo, a stake, a pale.]

1. To fence or fortify with stakes; to set a line of stakes or posts for defense. All that dwell near enemies empale villages, to save themselves from surprise. Ralegh. [We now use stockade, in a like sense.]
2. To inclose; to surround. Round about her work she did empale, / With a fair border wrought of sundry flowers. Spenser.
3. To inclose; to shut in. Impenetrable, empal'd with circling fire. Milton.
4. To thrust a stake up the fundament, and thus put to death; to put to death by fixing on a stake; a punishment formerly practiced in Rome, and still used in Turkey. Addison. Encyc.