dampen vs sprinkle

dampen

verb
  • To make damp or moist; to make moderately wet. 

  • To lessen; to dull; to make less intense (said of emotions and non-physical things). 

  • To become damped or deadened. 

  • To become damp or moist. 

sprinkle

verb
  • To drip in fine drops, sometimes sporadically. 

  • To cover (an object) by sprinkling a substance on to it. 

  • To baptize by the application of a few drops, or a small quantity, of water; hence, to cleanse; to purify. 

  • To rain very lightly outside. 

  • To cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance). 

noun
  • An aspersorium or utensil for sprinkling. 

  • A light rain shower. 

  • A small hard piece of sugar and starch, or chocolate, used to decorate cakes etc. 

  • A light covering with a sprinkled substance. 

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