pipe vs vacuum tube

pipe

noun
  • A rigid tube that transports water, steam, or other fluid, as used in plumbing and numerous other applications. 

  • A water pipe. 

  • Decorative edging stitched to the hems or seams of an object made of fabric (clothing, hats, curtains, pillows, etc.), often in a contrasting color; piping. 

  • The key or sound of the voice. 

  • An elongated or irregular body or vein of ore. 

  • The distance travelled between two rest periods during which one could smoke a pipe. 

  • An anonymous satire or essay, insulting and frequently libellous, written on a piece of paper which was rolled up and left somewhere public where it could be found and thus spread, to embarrass the author's enemies. 

  • A telephone. 

  • A tube used to produce sound in an organ; an organ pipe. 

  • The character [[Unsupported titles/Vertical line#Translingual||]]. 

  • A high-pitched sound, especially of a bird. 

  • A mechanism that enables one program to communicate with another by sending its output to the other as input. 

  • A hollow stem with a bowl at one end used for smoking, especially a tobacco pipe but also including various other forms such as a water pipe. 

  • The contents of such a vessel, as a liquid measure, sometimes set at 126 wine gallons; half a tun. 

  • A type of pasta similar to macaroni. 

  • A tubular passageway in the human body such as a blood vessel or the windpipe. 

  • A man's penis. 

  • One of the goalposts of the goal. 

  • A data backbone, or broadband Internet access. 

  • A large container for storing liquids or foodstuffs; now especially a vat or cask of cider or wine. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.) 

  • A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the tube. 

  • A vertical conduit through the Earth's crust below a volcano through which magma has passed, often filled with volcanic breccia. 

verb
  • To directly feed (the output of one program) as input to another program, indicated by the pipe character ([[Unsupported titles/Vertical line#Translingual||]]) at the command line. 

  • To install or configure with pipes. 

  • To create or decorate with piping (icing). 

  • To convey or transport (something) by means of pipes. 

  • Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development. 

  • To dab moisture away from. 

  • To emit or have a shrill sound like that of a pipe; to whistle. 

  • Of a metal ingot: to become hollow in the process of solidifying. 

  • To have sexual intercourse with a female. 

  • To order or signal by a note pattern on a boatswain's pipe. 

  • To lead or conduct as if by pipes, especially by wired transmission. 

  • To play (music) on a pipe instrument, such as a bagpipe or a flute. 

  • To shout loudly and at high pitch. 

  • To invent or embellish (a story). 

vacuum tube

noun
  • A type of electron tube that controls electron current through vacuum between electrodes within a sealed container, usually of glass or metal and often designed to be easily installed in and removed from the equipment in which it is used. 

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