sable vs tar baby

sable

noun
  • A black colour on a coat of arms (Wikipedia). 

  • Black garments, especially worn in mourning. 

  • The sablefish. 

  • An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable (Wikipedia). 

  • The fur or pelt of the sable or other species of martens; a coat made from this fur. 

  • A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Martes zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur (Wikipedia). 

  • A dark brown colour, resembling the fur of some sables. 

  • The marten, especially Martes americana (syn. Mustela americana). 

adj
  • Of the black colour sable. 

  • Dark, somber. 

  • Made of sable fur. 

  • In blazon, of the colour black. 

tar baby

noun
  • A black person. 

  • A difficult, abstract problem that worsens as one attempts to handle it; a "sticky" situation, especially one where attempts to make it better only make it worse. 

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