circus vs free-for-all

circus

noun
  • A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place. 

  • A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. 

  • In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing. 

  • A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned. 

  • A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet. 

verb
  • To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus 

free-for-all

noun
  • Chaos; a chaotic situation lacking rules or control. 

  • Deathmatch, sometimes specifically one in which every player is pitted against all the others. 

adj
  • Open to anyone and with no or few rules. 

How often have the words circus and free-for-all occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )