dross vs refuse

dross

noun
  • Waste or impure matter. 

  • Worthless or trivial matter. 

  • The impurities in metal. 

  • Residue that forms on the surface of molten metal from oxidation. 

  • A waste product from working with metal. 

verb
  • To remove dross from. 

refuse

noun
  • Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage. 

verb
  • To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission. 

  • To melt again. 

  • To decline (a request or demand). 

  • To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the centre, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular alignment when troops are about to engage the enemy. 

adj
  • Discarded, rejected. 

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