The word was malaxate, and here are the scoring results:

a) to soften and incorporate by rubbing or rolling, and mixing with a thinner substance WEBSTER’S (maverick, tsuwm, Bridget96, rodward, Geoff)

b) a badly worked piece of wood Rhubarb Commando

c) Demon-possessed Fiberbabe

d) a cleaning procedure for graffiti satin

e) to appear tense or rigid due to stiff posture tsuwm (Jazzoctopus)

f) A formula, in Alchemy, that arouses hatred in the drinker jimthedog

g) The condition that describes the abnormal positioning of the lower and upper maxilla that may result in the jaw muscles going into spasms wordcrazy (satin, Bingley)

h) a laxative in chewable form sparteye

i) A wobble on the axis of a gyroscope inducing a turning force that causes a deflection in its course. Also known as gyroscopic precession Geoff (Fiberbabe, paulb, Rapunzel)

j) v To deliberately, with ill-intent, induce diarrhoea in another Max Quordlepleen

k) a term from logic used to describe an internally self-consistent system that is in fact false because the axioms on which it is based are false. Bingley (wordcrazy)

l) adj. - of the class of drugs given as enemas to parturient women rodward (MaxQuordlepleen)

m) to purge the mind of bad thoughts paulb (WhitmanO’Neill)

n) a mildly acidic carbonate usu. found in dental fillings Jazzoctopus (Avy, Hyla)

o) dislocated; out of joint Rapunzel (Flatlander)

p) To mischop a piece of firewood WhitmanO’Neill


Five people knew the correct definition. Wow!

And the standings:

Sparteye.....................11
tsuwm........................7 + 3 = 10
Geoff........................5 + 5 = 10
flatlander...................6
Bingley......................5 + 1 = 6
paulb........................4 + 1 = 5
wordcrazy....................3 + 2 = 5
Rapunzel.....................3 + 1 = 4
Bridget96....................2 + 2 = 4
Jazzoctopus..................2 + 2 = 4
rodward......................1 + 3 = 4
wwh..........................3
fiberbabe....................3
RhubarbCommando..............3
jimthedog....................2
WhitmanO’Neill...............2
maverick.....................2
freckled_snout...............1
Jackie.......................1

At school we had a large noisy machine like a mincer from hell, which ground up old clay and relaxed it with slip water and new clay to form a reusable pug – I am fairly sure it was called a (sp?) Malaxor. I was still half inclined to think malaxate is the product, not the process – a noun, not a verb.
Yet from the Dictionary of Difficult Words I get this:
malax
v.t. soften by kneading or diluting. malaxage, n. such softening of clay. malaxate, v.t. malaxation, malaxator, n.

http://www.lineone.net/dictionaryof/difficultwords/d0007887

So I guess that this is another ‘love it or ~ate it’ word – how disorientating!

so here's mav sounding somewhat sure of himself (obviously he hasn't verbed any nouns recently) and me thinking it just sounded right -- voila, the anti-bluff. now, did the others just follow along?

mav sounding somewhat sure of himself

Nah. Just the stopped clock syndrome - even a needjit's right twice a day

But the others were in fine company, eh?

Bingley......................5 + 1 = 5?

Thank you tsuwm. I was wondering.

Bingley

Bingley......................5 + 1 = 5?

Picky, picky, picky

5 + 1 = 5?

for small values of 1

Rod