gunpowder vs shrapnel

gunpowder

noun
  • An explosive mixture of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), charcoal and sulphur; formerly used in gunnery but now mostly used in fireworks. 

  • Idli podi/milagai podi; ground-up dry spices mixed with oil and ghee and served alongside idli or dosa. 

shrapnel

noun
  • A collective term for shot, fragments, or debris thrown out by an exploding shell, bomb or landmine. 

  • The bullets from the aforementioned type of artillery shell. 

  • An anti-personnel artillery shell used in World War I which carries a large number of individual bullets close to the target and then ejects them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually. 

  • Debris. 

  • Loose change. 

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