attack vs save

attack

noun
  • An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of opponent or enemy. 

  • Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net. 

  • The amount of time it takes for the volume of an audio signal to go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing a snare drum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wave washing to shore would feature a slow attack). 

  • An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault. 

  • The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team. 

  • A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle. 

  • The beginning of active operations on anything. 

  • The sudden onset of a disease or condition. 

  • Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side. 

  • An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system. 

  • The onset of a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset. 

  • An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease. 

verb
  • To begin to affect; to act upon injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste. 

  • To bat aggressively, so as to score runs quickly. 

  • To aim balls at the batsman’s wicket. 

  • To aggressively challenge a person, idea, etc., with words (particularly in newspaper headlines, because it typesets into less space than "criticize" or similar). 

  • (Of a chemical species) To approach a chemical species or bond in order to form a bond with it. 

  • To apply violent force to someone or something. 

  • To set a field, or bowl in a manner designed to get wickets. 

  • To accelerate quickly in an attempt to get ahead of the other riders. 

  • To move forward in an active attempt to score a point, as opposed to trying not to concede. 

  • To deal with something in a direct way; to set to work upon. 

save

noun
  • An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty. 

  • The act, process, or result of saving data to a storage medium. 

  • A saving throw. 

  • A successful attempt by a relief pitcher to preserve the win of another pitcher on one's team. 

  • In various sports, a block that prevents an opponent from scoring. 

  • A point in a professional wrestling match when one or more wrestlers run to the ring to aid a fellow wrestler who is being beaten. 

  • An action that brings one back out of an awkward situation. 

verb
  • To keep (something) safe; to safeguard. 

  • To spare (somebody) from effort, or from something undesirable. 

  • To redeem or protect someone from eternal damnation. 

  • To obviate or make unnecessary. 

  • To catch or deflect (a shot at goal). 

  • To store for future use. 

  • To economize or avoid waste. 

  • To preserve, as a relief pitcher, (a win of another pitcher's on one's team) by defending the lead held when the other pitcher left the game. 

  • To write a file to disk or other storage medium. 

  • To refrain from romantic or (especially in later use) sexual relationships until one is married or is with a suitable partner. 

  • To help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm. 

  • To conserve or prevent the wasting of. 

  • To accumulate money or valuables. 

prep
  • Except; with the exception of. 

conj
  • unless; except 

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