impalement

Meanings

1. The act of torturing or executing someone by impaling them on a sharp stake.
2. The joining of two coats of arms on one shield.
3. A space fenced in, such as by palings, possibly in the form of an enclosure or cup.
4. In the sense of an enclosure, the calyx of a flower. (In still older works, also spelt empalement.)

Etymology

From Middle French empalement; equivalent to impale + -ment.