lilac vs slate

lilac

adj
  • Having a pale purple colour. 

noun
  • A flower of the lilac shrub. 

  • A pale purple color, the color of some lilac flowers. 

  • A large shrub of the genus Syringa, especially Syringa vulgaris, bearing white, pale-pink, or purple flowers. 

slate

adj
  • Having the bluish-grey/gray colour of slate. 

noun
  • An artificial material resembling slate and used for the same purposes. 

  • A list of affiliated candidates for an election. 

  • A record of money owed. 

  • A tablet computer. 

  • A thin plate of any material; a flake. 

  • A fine-grained homogeneous sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash which has been metamorphosed so that it cleaves easily into thin layers. 

  • The bluish-grey colour of most slate. 

  • A chalkboard, sheet of slate for writing on with chalk or with a thin rod of slate (a slate pencil) formerly commonly used by both students and teachers in schools. 

  • A roofing-tile made of slate. 

verb
  • To cover with slate. 

  • To schedule. 

  • To criticise harshly. 

  • To set a dog upon (a person). 

  • To anticipate or strongly expect. 

  • To nominate, appoint, or designate. 

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