flame vs tawny

flame

noun
  • A brilliant reddish orange-gold fiery colour. 

  • The visible part of fire; a stream of burning vapour or gas, emitting light and heat. 

  • flame 

  • A romantic partner or lover in a usually short-lived but passionate affair. 

  • The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the curl. 

  • Burning zeal, passion, imagination, excitement, or anger. 

adj
  • Of a brilliant reddish orange-gold colour, like that of a flame. 

verb
  • To produce flames; to burn with a flame or blaze. 

  • To burst forth like flame; to break out in violence of passion; to be kindled with zeal or ardour. 

  • To post a destructively critical or abusive message (to somebody). 

tawny

noun
  • A light brown to brownish orange colour. 

  • Synonym of tenné (“a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown”) 

  • In full tawny port: a sweet, fortified port wine which is blended and matured in wooden casks. 

  • Tawny owl. 

  • Tawny frogmouth. 

  • The common bullfinch or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula). 

  • Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name). 

adj
  • Of a light brown to brownish orange colour. 

verb
  • To become a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn. 

  • To cause (someone or something) to have a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn. 

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