assault vs defend

assault

verb
  • To attack, physically or figuratively; to assail. 

  • To threaten or harass. 

noun
  • A non-competitive combat between two fencers. 

  • A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc. 

  • A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like 

  • An act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm (such as brandishing a weapon). 

  • An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching the person, such as by raising a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at the person and missing. 

  • The tort whose action is such an act. 

  • The crime whose action is such an attempt. 

defend

verb
  • To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard. 

  • To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring. 

  • To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous edition of that competition. 

  • To call a raise from the big blind. 

  • To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of. 

  • To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused). 

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