blench vs falter

blench

verb
  • To shrink; start back; give way; flinch; turn aside or fly off. 

  • To deceive; cheat. 

  • To hinder; obstruct; disconcert; foil. 

  • To fly off; to turn aside. 

  • To quail. 

  • To draw back from; shrink; avoid; elude; deny, as from fear. 

noun
  • A deceit; a trick. 

  • A sidelong glance. 

falter

verb
  • To stumble. 

  • To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought. 

  • To hesitate in purpose or action. 

  • To cleanse or sift, as barley. 

  • To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off. 

  • To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner. 

  • To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause). 

noun
  • An unsteadiness. 

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