searchlight vs thermionic valve

searchlight

noun
  • A light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction, generally for military use. 

  • The light from the above source. 

verb
  • To scan or sweep across like a searchlight. 

thermionic valve

noun
  • An electronic device incorporating electrons from a glowing cathode inside an evacuated glass tube, functioning as a switch, amplifier etc. 

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