boule vs rhubarb

boule

noun
  • A round loaf of bread. 

  • A single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means. 

  • A round piece of dough. 

  • A through-sawn log with the slices restacked in the order and orientation they originally had in the log, usually with waney edges. 

  • A council of citizens in Ancient Greece 

  • One of the bowls used in the French game of boules. 

verb
  • To shape (a piece of dough) into a ball. 

rhubarb

noun
  • The leafstalks of common rhubarb or garden rhubarb (usually known as Rheum × hybridum), which are long, fleshy, often pale red, and with a tart taste, used as a food ingredient; they are frequently stewed with sugar and made into jam or used in crumbles, pies, etc. 

  • Any plant of the genus Rheum, especially Rheum rhabarbarum, having large leaves and long green or reddish acidic leafstalks that are edible, in particular when cooked (although the leaves are mildly poisonous). 

  • General background noise caused by several simultaneous indecipherable conversations, which is created in films, stage plays, etc., by actors repeating the word rhubarb; hence, such noise in other settings. 

  • A Royal Air Force World War II code name for operations by aircraft (fighters and fighter-bombers) involving low-level flight to seek opportunistic targets. 

  • An excited, angry exchange of words, especially at a sporting event. 

  • Nonsense; false utterance. 

  • A brawl. 

  • A ditch alongside a road or highway. 

  • The dried rhizome and roots of Rheum palmatum (Chinese rhubarb) or Rheum officinale (Tibetan rhubarb), from China, used as a laxative and purgative. 

adj
  • Of the colour of rhubarb: either brownish-yellow (the colour of rhubarb rhizomes and roots used for medicinal purposes), or pale red (often the colour of the leafstalks of common rhubarb). 

verb
  • Of fighter aircraft: to fire at a target opportunistically. 

  • To articulate indistinctly or mumble (words or phrases); to say inconsequential or vague things because one does not know what to say, or to stall for time. 

  • Of an actor in a film, stage play, etc.: to repeat the word rhubarb to create the sound of indistinct conversation; hence, to converse indistinctly, to mumble. 

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