dam vs washboard

dam

noun
  • A reservoir. 

  • An obsolete Indian copper coin, equal to a fortieth of a rupee. 

  • A structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow or part of the flow, generally for purposes such as retaining or diverting some of the water or retarding the release of accumulated water to avoid abrupt flooding. 

  • A former coin of Nepal, 128 of which were worth one mohar. 

  • A device to prevent a tooth from getting wet during dental work, consisting of a rubber sheet held with a band. 

  • A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace. 

  • The water reservoir resulting from placing such a structure. 

  • Female parent, mother, generally regarding breeding of animals. 

  • A kind of crowned piece in the game of draughts. 

intj
  • Damn. 

verb
  • To block the flow of water. 

adj
  • Damn. 

washboard

noun
  • A board fastened along a ship's gunwale to prevent splashing; a splashboard. 

  • A stretch of ripples or bumps on a dirt or gravel road caused by interaction between traffic and road surface. 

  • Such a board used as a simple percussion instrument. 

  • A board with a corrugated surface against which laundry may be rubbed. 

verb
  • To play a washboard. 

  • To move up and down or back and forth across the surface of a hive, possibly to lay down a layer of propolis and wax. 

  • To produce a rippled texture on a surface. 

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