approve vs refuse

approve

verb
  • To consider worthy (to); to be pleased (with); to accept. 

  • To officially sanction; to ratify; to confirm; to set as satisfactory. 

  • To make profit of; to convert to one's own profit — said especially of waste or common land appropriated by the lord of the manor. 

  • To regard as good; to commend; to be pleased with; to think well of. 

refuse

verb
  • To decline (a request or demand). 

  • To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission. 

  • To melt again. 

  • To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the centre, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular alignment when troops are about to engage the enemy. 

noun
  • Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage. 

adj
  • Discarded, rejected. 

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