dash vs foil

dash

verb
  • To dishearten; to sadden. 

  • To leave or depart. 

  • To complete hastily. 

  • To ruin; to destroy. 

  • To sprinkle; to splatter. 

  • To run quickly or for a short distance. 

  • To destroy by striking (against). 

  • To draw or write quickly; jot. 

  • To throw violently. 

noun
  • Violent strike; a whack. 

  • The dashboard of a Tumblr user. 

  • A small quantity of a liquid substance etc.; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon. 

  • Any of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar). 

  • A rushing or violent onset. 

  • A short run, flight. 

  • Ostentatious vigor. 

  • The longer of the two symbols of Morse code. 

  • A slight admixture. 

  • A bribe or gratuity; a gift. 

  • A dashboard. 

  • A hyphen or minus sign. 

intj
  • Damn! 

foil

verb
  • To blunt; to dull; to spoil. 

  • To expand a product of two or more algebraic expressions, typically binomials. 

  • To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something. 

  • To prevent (something) from being accomplished. 

  • To cover or wrap with foil. 

noun
  • Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food. 

  • A thin, transparent plastic material on which marks are made and projected for the purposes of presentation. See transparency. 

  • A very thin sheet of metal. 

  • A thin layer of metal put between a jewel and its setting to make it seem more brilliant. 

  • A very thin sword with a blunted (or foiled) tip 

  • Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something. 

  • In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character and who usually acts as an opponent or antagonist, but can also serve as the sidekick of the protagonist. 

  • One of the incorrect answers presented in a multiple-choice test. 

  • A stylized flower or leaf. 

  • Failure when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage. 

  • The track of an animal. 

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