riffle vs thumbsbreadth

riffle

noun
  • In seal engraving, a small metal disc at the end of a tool. 

  • A succession of small waves. 

  • A swift, shallow part of a stream causing broken water. 

  • A quick skim through the pages of a book. 

  • A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when auriferous earth is washed. Also one of the cleats, grooves or steps in such trough. 

  • The act of shuffling cards; the sound made while shuffling cards. 

verb
  • To ruffle with a rippling action. 

  • To skim or flick through the pages of a book. 

  • To flow over a swift, shallow part of a stream. 

  • To shuffle playing cards by separating the deck in two and sliding the thumbs along the edges of the cards to mix the two parts. 

  • To leaf through rapidly. 

  • To idly manipulate objects with the fingers. 

  • To prepare samples of material using a riffler. 

thumbsbreadth

noun
  • The width of a thumb, as a unit of measure. 

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