spur vs yolk

spur

noun
  • Ergotized rye or other grain. 

  • A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed. 

  • A tern. 

  • A branch of a vein. 

  • A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side. 

  • Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city. 

  • A jab given with the spurs. 

  • Roots, tree roots. 

  • A very short branch line of a railway line. 

  • The track of an animal, such as an otter; a spoor. 

  • A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage. 

  • A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall. 

  • A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles. 

  • A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight. 

  • Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse. 

  • A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber. 

  • An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster. 

  • A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut. 

  • A short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road. 

  • The short wooden buttress of a post. 

  • A spurious tone, one that interferes with a signal in a circuit and is often masked underneath that signal. 

  • A short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves. 

verb
  • To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object 

  • To press forward; to travel in great haste. 

  • To prod (especially a horse) on the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig. 

  • To form a spur (senses 17-18 of the noun) 

  • To put spurs on. 

yolk

noun
  • The grease in a sheep's fleece; lanolin. 

  • The yellow, spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the white albumen, and serves as nutriment for the growing young. 

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