mercury vs pearl

mercury

noun
  • A silvery-colored, toxic, metallic chemical element, liquid at room temperature, with atomic number 80 and symbol Hg. 

  • One of the elemental principles formerly thought to be present in all metals. 

  • Any plant of any species of the genus and the genus Mercurialis. 

  • The poison oak or poison ivy. 

  • An annual plant, annual mercury (Mercurialis annua), formerly grown for its medicinal properties; French mercury, herb mercury. 

  • Ambient pressure or temperature (from the use of mercury in barometers and thermometers). 

  • A similar edible plant (Blitum bonus-henricus), otherwise known as English mercury or allgood. 

pearl

noun
  • A light-colored tern. 

  • Something precious. 

  • A fish allied to the turbot; the brill. 

  • A whitish speck or film on the eye. 

  • A capsule of gelatin or similar substance containing liquid for e.g. medicinal application. 

  • Nacre, or mother-of-pearl. 

  • One of the circle of tubercles which form the bur on a deer's antler. 

  • A shelly concretion, usually rounded, and having a brilliant luster, with varying tints, found in the mantle, or between the mantle and shell, of certain bivalve mollusks, especially in the pearl oysters and river mussels, and sometimes in certain univalves. It is usually due to a secretion of shelly substance around some irritating foreign particle. Its substance is the same as nacre, or mother-of-pearl. Round lustrous pearls are used in jewellery. 

  • A fringe or border. 

  • A valuable little nugget of information; especially, an aphorism or tip that is operationally useful for decision-making. 

  • The clitoris. 

verb
  • To cause to resemble pearls in shape; to make into small round grains. 

  • To cause to resemble pearls in lustre or iridescence. 

  • To resemble pearl or pearls. 

  • To sink the nose of one's surfboard into the water, often on takeoff. 

  • To set or adorn with pearls, or with mother-of-pearl. 

  • Of the nose of the surfboard: to sink in this manner. 

  • To hunt for pearls 

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