distemper vs heliotrope

distemper

noun
  • A painting produced with this kind of paint. 

  • A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh. 

  • A glue-based paint. 

verb
  • To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of. 

  • To mix (colours) in the way of distemper. 

  • To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease. 

  • To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humoured, or malignant. 

  • To intoxicate. 

  • To paint using distemper. 

heliotrope

noun
  • A light purple or violet colour. 

  • Particularly, a purple-flowered plant of the species Heliotropium arborescens. 

  • A bloodstone (a variety of quartz). 

  • An instrument, employed in triangulation, that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight toward another, very distant, surveyor. 

  • The fragrance of heliotrope flowers. 

  • A plant that turns so that it faces the sun. 

adj
  • Light purple or violet. 

  • Keeping one’s face turned toward the sun. 

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