ball and chain vs frow

ball and chain

noun
  • One's wife, as a symbol of restraint. 

  • A heavy iron ball attached to a prisoner's leg by a chain as a means of restraint. 

  • Anything that restricts one's freedom or opportunities. 

frow

noun
  • A woman; a wife, especially a Dutch or German one. 

  • A cleaving tool with handle at right angles to the blade, for splitting cask staves and shingles from the block; a frower. 

adj
  • Brittle; tender; crisp 

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