frou-frou vs refined

frou-frou

adj
  • Liable to create the sound of rustling cloth, similar to 19th-century dresses. 

  • Unimportant, silly, useless. 

  • Highly ornamented, overly elaborate; excessively girly. 

verb
  • To move with the sound of rustling dresses. 

noun
  • A rustling sound, particularly the rustling of a large silk dress. 

refined

adj
  • Developed, improved. 

  • Subtle, scrupulous, carefully thought out. 

  • Elegant, sometimes (derogatory) affected, prissy, or bloodless. 

  • Highly-processed and pure. 

  • Free of dross or alloy. 

  • Dealing in a refined product such as sugar or petroleum. 

  • Elevated and polished. 

noun
  • The refined form of a commodity, as opposed to its raw or generic form. 

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