bulwark vs sleeve

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. 

sleeve

noun
  • A narrow channel of water. 

  • The part of a garment that covers the arm. 

  • A serving of beer smaller than a pint, typically measuring between 12 and 16 ounces. 

  • A double tube of copper into which the ends of bare wires are pushed so that when the tube is twisted an electrical connection is made. The joint thus made is called a McIntire joint. 

  • A long, cylindrical plastic bag of cookies or crackers. 

  • A protective jacket or case, especially for a record, containing art and information about the contents; also the analogous leaflet found in a packaged CD. 

  • A (usually tubular) covering or lining to protect a piece of machinery etc. 

  • Sleave; untwisted thread. 

  • A tattoo covering the whole arm. 

verb
  • To hide something up one's sleeve. 

  • To fit and attach a sleeve to an upper garment (e.g. to a shirt, blouse, sweater, jacket, coat, etc.) or to a folder. 

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