gyration vs ratchet

gyration

noun
  • The act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation. 

  • The arrangement of convolutions of gyri in the cerebral cortex of the brain. 

  • One of the whorls of a spiral univalve shell. 

  • A rotation around an axis which is not the centre of rotational symmetry; an eccentric or off-centre rotation. 

ratchet

noun
  • A noisemaker or musical instrument where sound is generated by a board striking against a rotating gear. See gragger, raganella. 

  • A pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc. 

  • A procedure or regulation that goes in one direction, usually up. 

  • A ratchet wrench. 

  • A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch and pawl. 

verb
  • To increment or decrement. 

  • To cause to become incremented or decremented. 

adj
  • Ghetto; unseemly, indecorous. 

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