mercury vs platinum

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. 

platinum

noun
  • The chemical element with atomic number 78 and symbol Pt; a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, silverish-white transition metal of great value. 

  • A single or album that has achieved platinum sales, i.e. over 1 million or 2 million. 

  • A whitish grey colour, like that of the metal. 

  • A platinum-based drug: a platin. 

adj
  • Of a musical recording that has sold over one million copies (for singles), or two million (for albums). 

  • Very expensive, or of very high quality 

  • Of a whitish grey colour, like that of the metal. 

verb
  • to reach platinum level in a game 

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