alley vs curb

alley

noun
  • A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings. 

  • The area between the outfielders. 

  • Any passage having the entrance represented as wider than the exit, so as to give the appearance of length. 

  • A passageway between rows of pews in a church. 

  • A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes. 

  • The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office. 

  • An establishment where bowling is played. 

  • The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches. 

  • A glass marble or taw. 

  • An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled. 

curb

noun
  • A sidewalk, covered or partially enclosed, bordering the airport terminal road system with adjacent paved areas to permit vehicles to off-load or load passengers. 

  • Something that checks or restrains; a restraint. 

  • A swelling on the back part of the hind leg of a horse, just behind the lowest part of the hock joint, generally causing lameness. 

  • A concrete margin along the edge of a road; a kerb (UK, Australia, New Zealand) 

  • A riding or driving bit for a horse that has rein action which amplifies the pressure in the mouth by leverage advantage placing pressure on the poll via the crown piece of the bridle and chin groove via a curb chain. 

  • A raised margin along the edge of something, such as a well or the eye of a dome, as a strengthening. 

verb
  • To rein in. 

  • To bend or curve. 

  • To furnish with a curb, as a well; to restrain by a curb, as a bank of earth. 

  • To crouch; to cringe. 

  • To damage vehicle wheels or tires by running into or over a pavement curb. 

  • To check, restrain or control. 

  • To bring to a stop beside a curb. 

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