cry vs wail

cry

verb
  • To shed tears; to weep. 

  • To utter inarticulate sounds, as animals do. 

  • To shout, scream, yell. 

  • To cause to do something, or bring to some state, by crying or weeping. 

  • To utter loudly; to call out; to declare publicly. 

  • To make oral and public proclamation of; to notify or advertise by outcry, especially things lost or found, goods to be sold, auctioned, etc. 

  • Hence, to publish the banns of, as for marriage. 

noun
  • A desperate or urgent request. 

  • Words shouted or screamed. 

  • A shout or scream. 

  • A group of hounds. 

  • A clamour or outcry. 

  • A shedding of tears; the act of crying. 

  • A typical sound made by the species in question. 

wail

verb
  • To weep, lament persistently or bitterly. 

  • To lament; to bewail; to grieve over. 

  • To make a noise like mourning or crying. 

  • To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish. 

  • To perform with great liveliness and force. 

noun
  • A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster. 

  • Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl. 

  • A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish. 

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