dross vs useless things

dross

noun
  • Worthless or trivial matter. 

  • The impurities in metal. 

  • Waste or impure matter. 

  • Residue that forms on the surface of molten metal from oxidation. 

  • A waste product from working with metal. 

verb
  • To remove dross from. 

useless things

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