ball and chain vs clog

ball and chain

noun
  • Anything that restricts one's freedom or opportunities. 

  • One's wife, as a symbol of restraint. 

  • A heavy iron ball attached to a prisoner's leg by a chain as a means of restraint. 

clog

noun
  • That which hinders or impedes motion; an encumbrance, restraint, or impediment of any kind. 

  • A type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel. 

  • A blockage. 

  • A weight, such as a log or block of wood, attached to a person or animal to hinder motion. 

  • A shoe of any type. 

verb
  • To block or slow passage through (often with 'up'). 

  • To burden; to trammel; to embarrass; to perplex. 

  • To enforce a mortgage lender right that prevents a borrower from exercising a right to redeem. 

  • To encumber or load, especially with something that impedes motion; to hamper. 

  • To perform a clog dance. 

How often have the words ball and chain and clog occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )