act vs dare

act

verb
  • To feign. 

  • Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly). 

  • To perform a theatrical role. 

  • To play (a role). 

  • To convey an appearance of being. 

  • To map via a homomorphism to a group of automorphisms (of). 

  • To do something. 

  • To have an effect (on). 

  • To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time. 

  • To do something that causes a change binding on the doer. 

noun
  • A product of a legislative body, a statute. 

  • A display of behaviour. 

  • A display of behaviour meant to deceive. 

  • A division of a theatrical performance. 

  • Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work. 

  • Any organized activity. 

  • A performer or performers in a show. 

  • A formal or official record of something done. 

  • The process of doing something. 

  • A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student. 

  • Something done, a deed. 

dare

verb
  • To terrify; to daunt. 

  • To have enough courage (to do something). 

  • To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to 

  • To catch (larks) by producing terror through the use of mirrors, scarlet cloth, a hawk, etc., so that they lie still till a net is thrown over them. 

  • To defy or challenge (someone to do something) 

noun
  • The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness. 

  • A challenge to prove courage. 

  • In the game truth or dare, the choice to perform a dare set by the other players. 

  • A small fish, the dace 

  • Defiance; challenge. 

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