dampen vs step up

dampen

verb
  • To become damped or deadened. 

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

  • To become damp or moist. 

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

step up

verb
  • To assume or take responsibility. 

  • To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps. 

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