Words, Words, Words

Today I'm having a "Mad Tea Party" program for spring break to tie in with the new Alice in Wonderland movie. Since so much of Carroll's book involves nonsense and wordplay, one of the things we'll do is play Balderdash. To save time, I've prepared words. We'll draw them randomly and only get to a few, I'm sure, but I wanted a nice selection. I tried to find strange words--but not crazy long or technical ones, and a few that some of them might know--that I could define simply to blend with the fake definitions the 8-12-year-olds with be inventing. Here's what I came up with:

Adverbum – Word for word.
Bilabial – Using both lips.
Chimerical – Created by or given to wildly fantastical imagination.
Destrier – A war horse.
Droit – A legal right.
Exudate – A substance that has oozed forth.
Footle – To talk nonsense.
Fungo – A baseball fly ball hit for practice by someone pitching to him/herself.
Gaea – The Greek goddess of the earth.
Gyre – Circular or spiral.
Hirsute – Covered with hair.
Inane – Making no sense or being meaningless.
Jerkin – A type of vest.
Ken – To know or understand.
Limpid – Transparent or clear.
Lore – A collection of facts, knowledge, and information.
Lycanthrope – A werewolf.
Moniker – A name or nickname.
Niggling – Overly concerned with details.
Noddy – A fool or dunce.
Opine – To share an opinion.
Pip – The small seed of a fruit.
Proboscis – A long, flexible snout or trunk.
Puffery – Exaggerated praise or publicity.
Pyric – Related to burning.
Quaggy – Soggy like a marsh.
Resorb – To absorb again.
Rick – A stack of hay, straw, or similar material.
Rusk – A light, sweet biscuit.
Scrip – Temporary paper money in an emergency.
Seel – To stitch closed the eyes of a falcon.
Slue – To turn in place; to pivot.
Snarky – Rudely sarcastic.
Swarf – Metal shavings or filings; like sawdust, but made of metal.
Trove – A collection of valuable items discovered or found.
Ultima – The last syllable of a word.
Volar – Relating to the sole of the foot or the palm of the hand.
Whelk – An inflamed swelling, like a pimple.
Wonk – A student who studies obsessively.
Xebec – A small boat used in the Mediterranean Sea.
Yahoo – A crude or brutish person.
Zebu – A type of ox from Asia and Africa.

From: The American Heritage College Dictionary, Fourth Edition. (2007)

Balderdash: The Dictionary Game
1. One person finds a strange word in the dictionary, shares the word with the group, and secretly writes down the real definition.
2. Everyone else invents a fake definition, secretly writes it down, and gives it to the person with the dictionary.
3. That person reads all of the definitions, then everyone votes for which definition they think is correct.
4. For each vote your definition receives, you get a point. If you vote for the real definition, you get a point.
5. Write down everyone’s scores, pass the dictionary to the next person, and repeat.