biting vs mordant

biting

adj
  • Cutting or incisive. 

  • Tending to bite. 

  • Causing a stinging sensation. 

noun
  • A bite-sized snack. 

  • An instance of something being bitten. 

mordant

adj
  • Having or showing a sharp or critical quality 

  • Serving to fix a dye to a fibre. 

noun
  • A glutinous size used as a ground for gilding, to make the gold leaf adhere. 

  • Any substance used to facilitate the fixing of a dye to a fibre; usually a metallic compound which reacts with the dye using chelation. 

  • Any corrosive substance used in etching. 

verb
  • To subject to the action of, or imbue with, a mordant. 

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