dare vs ruff

dare

verb
  • To terrify; to daunt. 

  • To have enough courage (to do something). 

  • To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to 

  • To catch (larks) by producing terror through the use of mirrors, scarlet cloth, a hawk, etc., so that they lie still till a net is thrown over them. 

  • To defy or challenge (someone to do something) 

noun
  • The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness. 

  • A challenge to prove courage. 

  • In the game truth or dare, the choice to perform a dare set by the other players. 

  • A small fish, the dace 

  • Defiance; challenge. 

ruff

verb
  • To ruffle; to disorder. 

  • To beat a ruff or ruffle, as on a drum. 

  • To shape (fabric, etc.) into a ruff; to adorn (a garment, etc.) with a ruff. 

  • Especially in the form ruff out: to defeat (a card, etc.) by ruffing, thus establishing the master card in the suit led. 

  • Of a drum, etc.: to have a ruff or ruffle beaten on it. 

  • Of a falcon, hawk, etc.: to hit (the prey) without fixing or grabbing hold of it. 

  • To play a trump card to a trick when unable to follow suit (that is, when unable to play a card of the same suit as the previous or leading card). 

noun
  • A circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s). 

  • Arripis georgianus, a fish found in cool waters off the southern coast of Australia; the Australian herring or tommy ruff. 

  • An instance of ruffing, or an opportunity to ruff, when unable to follow suit. 

  • Philomachus pugnax (syn. Calidris pugnax), a gregarious, medium-sized wading bird of Eurasia; specifically, a male of the species which develops a distinctive ruff of feathers and ear tufts during mating season (the female is called a reeve). 

  • A collar on a shaft or other piece to prevent endwise motion. 

  • A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruffle. 

  • Anything formed with plaits or flutings like a frill. 

  • A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers on or around the neck of a bird. 

  • A collar of lengthened or distinctively coloured fur on or around the neck of an animal. 

intj
  • The bark of a dog; arf, woof. 

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