floodgate vs water tap

floodgate

noun
  • An adjustable gate or valve used to control the flow of water through a sluice. 

  • Anything that controls or limits an outpouring of people, emotion etc. 

water tap

noun
  • A spout connected to a socket to provide water from the main water supply. 

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