pellicle vs scab

pellicle

noun
  • The outermost layer of a mushroom, often used only for a surface that is viscid and easily peels off. 

  • A skin or coating of proteins on the surface of meat to be smoked, improving the surface adhesion. 

  • The growth on the surface of a liquid culture. 

  • The skin of a mushroom cap. 

  • A thin plastic membrane used as a beam splitter or protective cover. 

  • A thin skin or film. 

  • Cuticle, the hard protective outer layer of certain life forms. 

  • The photosensitive emulsion of photographic film. 

scab

noun
  • A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold. 

  • The mange, especially when it appears on sheep. 

  • The scabies. 

  • A worker who acts against trade union policies; any picket crosser (strikebreaker), and especially one with devotion to union busting. 

  • Any of several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by streptomyces bacteria (but formerly believed to be caused by a fungus). 

  • A mean, dirty, paltry fellow. 

  • Any one of various more or less destructive fungal diseases that attack cultivated plants, forming dark-colored crustlike spots. 

  • An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing. 

  • Common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab (potato disease) caused by Streptomyces scabies. 

verb
  • To remove part of a surface (from). 

  • To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin. 

  • To act as a strikebreaker. 

  • To beg (for), to cadge or bum. 

  • To become covered by a scab or scabs. 

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