cess vs levy

cess

noun
  • An assessed tax, duty, or levy. 

  • Usually preceded by good or (more commonly) bad: luck or success. 

  • The area along either side of a railroad track which is kept at a lower level than the sleeper bottom, in order to provide drainage. 

verb
  • To levy a cess. 

levy

noun
  • The act of levying. 

  • The tax, property or people so levied. 

verb
  • To raise, as a siege. 

  • To raise or collect by assessment; to exact by authority. 

  • To erect, build, or set up; to make or construct; to raise or cast up. 

  • To draft someone into military service. 

  • To raise; to collect; said of troops, to form into an army by enrollment, conscription. etc. 

  • To wage war. 

  • To impose (a tax or fine) to collect monies due, or to confiscate property. 

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