heliotrope vs varnish

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. 

varnish

noun
  • Anything resembling such a paint; glossy appearance. 

  • A type of paint with a solvent that evaporates to leave a hard, transparent, glossy film. 

  • A deceptively showy appearance. 

verb
  • To make something superficially or deceptively attractive 

  • To gloss over a defect. 

  • To cover up with varnish. 

  • To apply varnish. 

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