mother-of-pearl vs oyster

mother-of-pearl

noun
  • The hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shells; nacre. 

  • A butterfly of the genus Salamis. 

adj
  • Made from or looking like mother-of-pearl; iridescent or pearly. 

oyster

noun
  • Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers. 

  • A person who keeps secrets. 

  • A shoplifter. 

  • A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster. 

  • The delicate morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl. 

adj
  • Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster. 

verb
  • To fish for oysters. 

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