Scrabble Vocab Challenge: Round I

Our new US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands arrived and it turns out he is a hardcore Scrabble player. I, having recently and publicly declared myself ept (as opposed to inept) at Scrabble, am looking to boost my arsenal. Additionally, I am a firm proponent that we shouldn't let good words die just because no one else uses them, so I will be doing a series of posts . . . perhaps not all at once, but an ongoing chain . . . of words I find in the Scrabble dictionary that I want to resurrect in my vocabulary and in my writing. And use to beat the Ambassador, I won't lie. ::rubs hands together::

Sometimes they might be alphabetical, sometimes they'll be words I happen to come across randomly. Color will be thrown in for fun. Let the games begin!

1. amrita, n—Beverage that bestows immortality in Hindu mythology
   
   
2. merk, n—A former coin of Scotland
   
   
3. mezzo, n (pl. -zos)—A female voice of a full, deep quality
   
   
4. azon, n—A radio-controlled aerial bomb
   
   
5. ixodid, n—A bloodsucking insect
   
   
6. jebel, n—A mountain
   
   
7. jinker, n—One who jinks
   
   
8. crenate, adj—Having an edge with rounded projections
   
   
9. gobshite, n—A contemptible person
   
   [and most appropriately]
   
10. ana, n—A collection of miscellaneous information about a particular subject