Huckleberry Finn the Word Wizard Quiz

Answer: make him pay

Pungle seems to come from the Spanish 'pongale' meaning to put it down. Used as a transitive verb, it is usually accompanied by the word 'up'. Huck's father uses it when he talks about trying to get Huck's money from the judge, who is looking after it.

Answer: He got drunk

Forty-rod is described as whisky, powerful enough to throw a man forty rods. Never one to refuse a drink, it doesn't take Huck's father long to get back to his old ways. The evening's drink is so intoxicating that he rolls off the porch, breaks his arm in two places, and makes such a mess of his room they have to "take soundings before they could navigate it."

Answer: Fear and anxiety

The first known record of the word 'fantods' is from the book 'Adventures of Harry Franco' by Charles Biggs. Roughly speaking, it means a state of extreme anxiety, tension or nervousness. Huck experiences the fantods when he finds the camp fire which confirms that he is not alone on the island.

Answer: Money

Spondulicks is possibly derived from the Greek spondylikos(from Spondylos, a sea shell used as currency). It is also considered to relate to a 'stack of discs' as in vertebra which could be seen as a comparison to coin piles.
Although a slang term apparently originating in 1850s USA, it only seems to be in current use in Britain (having used a variant of it myself many times over the years - 'spondoolies', I can categorically confirm that it is still alive and well as a word).

Answer: Wonderful

The note in my text refers to staving as meaning 'wonderful, marvellous etc.' There are many ways the word could be used, but in this instance, Huck uses the word trying to get Jim to tell him about the dream which has been so 'unbelievable'.

Answer: Venomous snakes

The water moccasin is the only semi-aquatic viper in the world, known by a variety of names, 'cottonmouth' being the most common. The promise of water moccasins is hardly an appealing one, and Huck only goes along as he is curious why the slave is so keen to show him.

Answer: A young sailor

A galoot in general terms is an awkward or strange individual. In nautical terms it refers to a green, unfledged sailor. Huck mentions a galoot specifically when he sees them chopping wood on rafts.
As an interesting aside, Frank Zappa creates a 'galoot colognum' in his 1984 album 'Thing Fish', in which an evil prince creates this substance to get rid of selected 'highly rhythmic individuals'(blacks) and 'sissy boys'(gays) - "So, heah dey come wit de (galoot cologne) dump 'nit all in de mash potatoes".

Answer: A mattress

The king ensures he does not sleep on this mattress by stating is not fit for him to sleep on. It is a mattress made from the outer husks of maize, which is noisy and uncomfortable.

Answer: Knock-out thunder claps

A sockdolager can be described as a knock-out blow. In the book, Huck refers to a flash of lightning, then a sockdolager, emphasising the power of the thunder-clap. Sockdologising is reputed to have been one of the last words heard by Abraham Lincoln as he attended a performance of 'Our American Cousin'.

It was following the line "Well I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap" that John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot.

Answer: A drinking saloon

In general, doggery can mean bad behaviour. However, in the context of the book it refers to a saloon bar where the King is found to be very drunk.