balk vs frown

balk

verb
  • To disappoint; to frustrate. 

  • 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. 

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. 

frown

verb
  • To manifest displeasure or disapprobation; to look with disfavour or threateningly. 

  • To repress or repel by expressing displeasure or disapproval; to rebuke with a look. 

  • To communicate by frowning. 

  • To have a frown on one's face. 

noun
  • A downturn of the corners of the mouth, typically expressing sadness. 

  • A wrinkling of the forehead with the eyebrows brought together, typically indicating displeasure, severity, or concentration. 

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