drab vs silken

drab

adj
  • Of the colour of some types of drabcloth: dull brownish yellow or dun. 

  • Particularly of colour: dull, uninteresting. 

noun
  • An instance of a transgender or non-binary person presenting as the gender corresponding to their sex assigned at birth instead of that corresponding to their internal gender identity (for instance, a trans woman dressed as a man). 

  • A dull or uninteresting appearance or situation, unremarkable. 

  • A fabric, usually of thick cotton or wool, having a dull brownish yellow, dull grey, or dun colour. 

  • Often in the plural form drabs: apparel, especially trousers, made from this fabric. 

  • The colour of this fabric. 

  • A small amount, especially of money. 

  • A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans. 

silken

adj
  • Smoothly uttered; flowing, subtle, or convincing in presentation. 

  • Made of silk. 

  • Dressed in silk. 

  • Having a smooth, soft, or light texture, like that of silk; suggestive of silk. 

verb
  • To render silken or silklike. 

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