nutmeg vs pith

nutmeg

noun
  • An evergreen tree (Myristica fragrans) cultivated in the East Indies for its spicy seeds. 

  • A grey-brown colour. 

  • The powdered seed, ready for use. 

  • The playing of the ball between the legs of an opponent. 

  • A whole nutmeg seed. 

  • A small moth, Hadula trifolii, feeding on plants and native to the Northern Hemisphere. 

verb
  • To flavour with nutmeg. 

  • To play the ball between the legs of (an opponent). 

pith

noun
  • The soft, spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees. 

  • The essential or vital part; force; energy; importance. 

  • The spinal cord; the marrow. 

  • The albedo of a citrus fruit. 

  • The spongy interior substance of a feather or horn. 

  • One divided by pi. 

  • Power, strength, might. 

adj
  • The ordinal form of the number pi. 

verb
  • To extract the pith from (a plant stem or tree). 

  • To kill (especially cattle or laboratory animals) by cutting or piercing the spinal cord. 

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