gammon vs needle

gammon

verb
  • To lash with ropes (on a ship). 

  • To cure bacon by salting. 

  • To beat by a gammon (without the opponent bearing off a stone). 

noun
  • Backgammon (the game itself). 

  • A rope fastening a bowsprit to the stem of a ship (usually called a gammoning). 

  • A victory in backgammon achieved when the opponent has not borne off a single stone. 

  • A cut of quick-cured pork leg. 

  • A middle-aged or older right-wing, reactionary white man, or such men collectively. 

needle

verb
  • To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture. 

  • To form, or be formed, in the shape of a needle. 

  • To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at. 

noun
  • A needle-like leaf found on some conifers. 

  • Any slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc. 

  • A strong beam resting on props, used as a temporary support during building repairs. 

  • A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus. 

  • A text string that is searched for within another string. (see: needle in a haystack) 

  • A fine measurement indicator on a dial or graph. 

  • A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing as in sewing, embroidery, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, sutures, etc; or a blunt but otherwise similar implement used for forming loops or knots in crafts such as darning, knitting, tatting, etc. 

  • The death penalty carried out by lethal injection. 

  • Any of various species of damselfly of the genus Synlestes, endemic to Australia. 

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