grit vs powder

grit

noun
  • A collection of hard small materials, such as dirt, ground stone, debris from sandblasting or other such grinding, or swarf from metalworking. 

  • A hard, coarse-grained siliceous sandstone; gritstone. Also, a finer sharp-grained sandstone, e.g., grindstone grit. 

  • Strength of mind; great courage or fearlessness; fortitude. 

  • Coarsely ground corn or hominy used as porridge. 

  • Inedible particles in food. 

  • Husked but unground oats. 

  • A measure of the relative coarseness of an abrasive material such as sandpaper, the smaller the number the coarser the abrasive. 

  • Sand or a sand–salt mixture spread on wet and, especially, icy roads and footpaths to improve traction. 

verb
  • To cover with grit. 

  • Apparently only in grit one's teeth: to clench, particularly in reaction to pain or anger. 

powder

noun
  • The fine particles which are the result of reducing a dry substance by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or the result of decay; dust. 

  • A mixture of fine dry, sweet-smelling particles applied to the face or other body parts, to reduce shine or to alleviate chaffing. 

  • An explosive mixture used in gunnery, blasting, etc.; gunpowder. 

verb
  • To sprinkle with powder, or as if with powder. 

  • To turn into powder; to become powdery. 

  • To depart suddenly; to "take a powder". 

  • To use powder on the hair or skin. 

  • To reduce to fine particles; to pound, grind, or rub into a powder. 

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