billet vs pincushion

billet

noun
  • A loop that receives the end of a buckled strap. 

  • A short cutting of sugar cane produced by a harvester or used for planting. 

  • A sealed ticket for a draw or lottery. 

  • An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood, either square or round. 

  • Berth; position. 

  • An allocated space or berth in a boat or ship. 

  • A short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood. 

  • A strap that enters a buckle. 

  • A short informal letter. 

  • A written order to quarter soldiers. 

  • A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon. 

  • Temporary lodgings in a private residence, such as is organised for members of a visiting sports team. 

  • A place where a soldier is assigned to lodge. 

  • A semi-finished length of metal. 

verb
  • To lodge, or be quartered, in a private house. 

  • To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. 

  • To lodge soldiers, or guests, usually by order. 

pincushion

noun
  • A device, originally like a small, stuffed cushion, designed to have sewing pins and needles stuck into it to store them safely; some modern pincushions hold the objects magnetically. 

  • The pincushionplant, a flowering plant in the genus Navarretia. 

  • A flowering plant in the genus Leucospermum. 

  • The dustymaiden, a flowering plant in the genus Chaenactis. 

  • A person who is pricked or stabbed multiple times with sharp objects; specifically, someone who receives regular hypodermic needle injections. 

  • The coral bead plant, coral moss, or English baby tears (Nertera granadensis), an ornamental plant. 

  • A flowering plant in the genus Scabiosa. 

  • The pincushion cactus, of the genera Escobaria or Mammillaria. 

verb
  • To jab or stick repeatedly with one or more sharp objects, as with pins into a pincushion. 

  • To assume the shape of a pincushion; specifically, of the image on a computer display, television, etc., to exhibit pincushion distortion, where the sides curve inwards. 

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