A fast-moving invisible monster that was never caught. It’s likely a four-legged mammal, a terrifying, invisible rat-cat, that could “snatch.”

A swift moving creature with snapping jaws, capable of extending its neck. A “bander” was also an archaic word for “leader,” suggesting that a “bandersnatch” might be an animal that hunts the leader in a group.

Radiantly beaming, happy, cheerful. Carroll thought he’d coined it, but it is cited in OED as in use in 1530.

An extinct kind of parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, and made their nests under sundials; lived on veal.

A thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round—something like a live mop.