allow vs hold back

allow

verb
  • To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have. 

  • To not bar or obstruct. 

  • To render physically possible. 

  • To acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion. 

  • To grant license to; to permit; to consent to. 

  • To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct. 

  • To take into account by making an allowance. 

  • To decide (a request) in favour of the party who raised it; to grant victory to a party regarding (a request). 

hold back

verb
  • To act with reserve; to contain one's full measure or power. 

  • To delay the progress of, especially in school. 

  • To contain; stop. 

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