Definish

• Definish is a paper and pencil game for two or more players. To play the game you need, besides papers and pencils, at least one dictionary.

• The game is based on replacing words in a piece of writing with their dictionary definitions. Players are given a sheet of paper and a pencil. Everyone chooses a piece of writing to ‘translate’ into Definish. The piece of writing can be an extract from a book, some lines from a song or a poem, a proverb, etc. Now it’s time to grab the dictionary(s) and replace the words of the chosen piece with their dictionary definitions. The Definish versions of the chosen writings obtained this way are written down on papers. When everyone is ready the writings in Definish are read out aloud one by one, and the other players try to guess what original piece of writing is.

• When played with a big group, it is likely that you will have shortage of printed dictionary(s). In that case, obviously, it may be a good idea to pick your laptops or mobiles to use online dictionaries.

• The following example is by Tony Augarde, given for a very similar game called Semantic Poetry.

• For example, by replacing words in the first lines of Shakespeare's Macbeth with their definitions from the Concise Oxford Dictionary; one can change:

'When shall we three meet again: In thunder, lightning, or in rain?'

into:

At what time shall we one more than two join or fasten correctly another time: In a loud rumbling or crashing noise heard after a lightning flash, a flash of bright light produced by an electric discharge, or in the condensed moisture of the atmosphere falling visibly in separate drops?