barb vs buzz

barb

verb
  • To cut (hair). 

  • To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc. 

  • To cover a horse in armor. 

noun
  • One of the many side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane. 

  • A barbiturate. 

  • Armor for a horse. 

  • A hurtful or disparaging remark. 

  • The sciaenid fish Menticirrhus americanus, found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. 

  • A blackish or dun variety of pigeon, originally brought from Barbary. 

  • Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen. 

  • The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else. 

  • A hair or bristle ending in a double hook. 

  • Any of various species of freshwater carp-like fish that have barbels and belong to the cyprinid family. 

  • A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it. 

  • A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging. 

  • The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors. 

buzz

verb
  • To cut the hair in a close-cropped military style, or buzzcut. 

  • To fly while making such a sound. 

  • To show a high level of activity and haste, energization or excitement, to be busy as a bee in one’s actions but perhaps mentally charged. 

  • Of a group of people, to talk about some interesting topic excitedly. 

  • To whisper; to communicate, as tales, in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly. 

  • To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings. 

  • To fly at high speed and at a very low altitude over a specified area, as to make a surprise pass. 

  • To talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice. 

  • To utter a murmuring sound; to speak with a low, humming voice. 

  • To communicate with (a person) by means of a buzzer. 

noun
  • Major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes. 

  • Synonym of fizz-buzz (“counting game”) 

  • The audible friction of voiced consonants. 

  • A whisper. 

  • A rush or feeling of energy or excitement; a feeling of slight intoxication. 

  • A continuous humming noise, as of bees; a confused murmur, as of general conversation in low tones. 

  • A telephone call or e-mail. 

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