balk vs dismiss

balk

verb
  • To refuse suddenly. 

  • To stop short and refuse to go on. 

  • To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. 

  • To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. 

  • To leave or make balks in. 

  • To make a deceptive motion to deceive another player. 

  • To stop, check, block. 

  • To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring. 

  • To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. 

  • To disappoint; to frustrate. 

noun
  • Beam, crossbeam; squared timber; a tie beam of a house, stretching from wall to wall, especially when laid so as to form a loft, "the balks". 

  • The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation. 

  • The area of the table lying behind the baulk line. 

  • A sudden and obstinate stop. 

  • A hindrance or disappointment; a check. 

  • The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together. 

  • The area of the table lying behind the line from which the cue ball is initially shot, and from which a ball in hand must be played. 

  • An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner. 

  • A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve. 

  • An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing. 

dismiss

verb
  • To reject; to refuse to accept. 

  • To get a batsman out. 

  • To give someone a red card; to send off. 

  • To order to leave. 

  • To invalidate; to treat as unworthy of serious consideration. 

  • To send or put away, to discard with disregard, contempt or disdain. (sometimes followed by as). 

  • To discharge; to end the employment or service of. 

  • To dispel; to rid one’s mind of. 

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