brass vs conch

brass

noun
  • A class of wind instruments, usually made of metal (such as brass), that use vibrations of the player's lips to produce sound; the section of an orchestra that features such instruments 

  • Fittings, utensils, or other items made of brass 

  • A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications. 

  • A memorial or sepulchral tablet usually made of brass or latten 

  • The colour of brass. 

  • A brass nail; a prostitute. 

  • Spent shell casings (usually made of brass); the part of the cartridge left over after bullets have been fired. 

  • Inferior composition. 

  • A brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence. 

  • High-ranking officers. 

adj
  • Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass. 

  • Bad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments. 

  • Of the colour of brass. 

  • Impertinent, bold: brazen. 

  • Of inferior composition. 

  • Brass monkey; cold. 

verb
  • To coat with brass. 

conch

noun
  • A musical instrument made from a large spiral seashell, somewhat like a trumpet. 

  • A marine gastropod of the family Strombidae which lives in its own spiral shell. 

  • The shell of this sea animal. 

  • Synonym of concher (“machine used to refine the flavour and texture of chocolate”) 

  • The semidome of an apse, or the apse itself. 

verb
  • To refine the flavour and texture of chocolate by warming and grinding, either in a traditional concher, or between rollers. 

  • To play a conch seashell as a musical instrument, by blowing through a hole made close to the origin of the spiral. 

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