bulwark vs dam

bulwark

noun
  • A breakwater. 

  • A defensive wall or rampart. 

  • A defense or safeguard. 

  • Any means of defence or security. 

  • The planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard. 

verb
  • To fortify something with a wall or rampart. 

  • To provide protection of defense for something. 

dam

noun
  • A reservoir. 

  • An obsolete Indian copper coin, equal to a fortieth of a rupee. 

  • A structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow or part of the flow, generally for purposes such as retaining or diverting some of the water or retarding the release of accumulated water to avoid abrupt flooding. 

  • A former coin of Nepal, 128 of which were worth one mohar. 

  • A device to prevent a tooth from getting wet during dental work, consisting of a rubber sheet held with a band. 

  • A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace. 

  • The water reservoir resulting from placing such a structure. 

  • Female parent, mother, generally regarding breeding of animals. 

  • A kind of crowned piece in the game of draughts. 

verb
  • To block the flow of water. 

intj
  • Damn. 

adj
  • Damn. 

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