barb vs kink

barb

noun
  • A hair or bristle ending in a double hook. 

  • One of the many side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane. 

  • A barbiturate. 

  • Armor for a horse. 

  • A hurtful or disparaging remark. 

  • The sciaenid fish Menticirrhus americanus, found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. 

  • A blackish or dun variety of pigeon, originally brought from Barbary. 

  • Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen. 

  • The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else. 

  • Any of various species of freshwater carp-like fish that have barbels and belong to the cyprinid family. 

  • A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it. 

  • A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging. 

  • The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors. 

verb
  • To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc. 

  • To cut (hair). 

  • To cover a horse in armor. 

kink

noun
  • A tight curl, twist, or bend in a length of thin material, hair etc. 

  • A convulsive fit of coughing or laughter; a sonorous indraft of breath; a whoop; a gasp of breath caused by laughing, coughing, or crying. 

  • A positive 1-soliton solution to the sine-Gordon equation. 

  • An unreasonable notion; a crotchet; a whim; a caprice. 

  • A difficulty or flaw that is likely to impede operation, as in a plan or system. 

  • Peculiarity or deviation in sexual behaviour or taste. 

  • A person with peculiar sexual tastes. 

verb
  • To laugh loudly. 

  • To be formed into a kink or twist. 

  • To form a kink or twist. 

  • To gasp for breath as in a severe fit of coughing. 

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