Writers are readers, by and large, and also word collectors. We tend to fall in love with words. Some writers make a career of writing about words as well as with them.

One of my personal favorites is dudgeon. In the Chesapeake Bay Mysteries, Van reflected on Nora being truly formidable when in high dudgeon. And from my rural Ohio roots, I like caddywampus and whopperjawed (both of which mean, basically, out of kilter or poorly constructed) as well as redd, as in redd up the table (meaning clear away or make ready).

Belly-pinched, meaning starving

Blutterbunged, meaning confounded or overcome by surprise

Brownstudy, meaning gloomy meditation or distraction

Bruzzle, to make a great to-do

Cabobble, to mystify, confuse, or puzzle

Davering, wandering aimlessly or walking dazed

Fabulosity, meaning  being fabulous or telling lies

Falling-weather,rain, snow, or hail

Flamfoo, a gaudily dressed woman, a clothes horse

Flurch, a great many (things, not people)

Fuzzle, to make fuzzy or indistinct with drink

Greasy tongue, a flatterer

Heart-quakes, exactly what it sounds like

Hipshot, sprained or dislocated him

Nightfoundered, lost the way in the dark

Noggle, to walk awkwardly

Prinkle, a tingling sensation in the skin, gooseflesh?

Quanked, overcome by fatigue

Smoothery, ointment or medicine to take away hair

Squiggle, to slosh liquid around the mouth with the lips closed

Stepmother-year, a cold, unfavorable year

Tazzled, rough untidy hair

Teaty-wad, a lump of damp sugar in a twist of cloth to quiet an infant when the mother is unavailable to feed

Thinnify, to make thin

Thrunched, very angry or displeased

Unlicked, unpolished or unkempt

Woman-tired, henpecked

If you choose to use colorful, unusual words such as these, use each only once in a given story or novel. They will be noticed. The only exception is would be when a given word is a speech tag for a given character.

Not to worry. The world is full of rich language, plenty to go around!