cannon vs curb

cannon

noun
  • A bone of a horse's leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock. 

  • A cannon bit. 

  • Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube. 

  • An autocannon. 

  • A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery tube and a breech mechanism, firing mechanism or base cap, which is a component of a gun, howitzer or mortar. It may include muzzle appendages. 

  • The arm of a player who can throw well. 

  • A large muzzle-loading artillery piece. 

  • A carom. 

  • A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently. 

  • A piece which moves horizontally and vertically like a rook but captures another piece by jumping over a different piece in the line of attack. 

  • A cylindrical item of plate armor protecting the arm, particularly one of a pair of such cylinders worn with a couter, the upper cannon protecting the upper arm and the lower cannon protecting the forearm. 

  • A pickpocket. 

verb
  • To bombard with cannons. 

  • To fire something, especially spherical, rapidly. 

  • To collide or strike violently, especially so as to glance off or rebound. 

  • To play the carom billiard shot; to strike two balls with the cue ball. 

curb

noun
  • 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. 

  • Something that checks or restrains; a restraint. 

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

  • 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 cannon and curb occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )