cure vs decay

cure

verb
  • To cause to be rid of (a defect). 

  • To bring about a cure of any kind. 

  • To preserve (food), typically by salting. 

  • To prepare or alter especially by chemical or physical processing for keeping or use. 

  • To solidify or gel. 

  • To bring (a disease or its bad effects) to an end. 

  • To be undergoing a chemical or physical process for preservation or use. 

  • To restore to health. 

noun
  • Act of healing or state of being healed; restoration to health after a disease, or to soundness after injury. 

  • That which is committed to the charge of a parish priest or of a curate. 

  • A method, device or medication that restores good health. 

  • Spiritual charge; care of soul; the office of a parish priest or of a curate. 

  • A solution to a problem. 

  • A process of solidification or gelling. 

  • A process of preservation, as by smoking. 

  • A process whereby a material is caused to form permanent molecular linkages by exposure to chemicals, heat, pressure and/or weathering. 

decay

verb
  • To cause to rot or deteriorate. 

  • To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation. 

  • To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality. 

  • To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon. 

  • Loss of airspeed due to drag. 

  • To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete. 

  • To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons; to undergo radioactive decay. 

  • Of an array: to lose its type and dimensions and be reduced to a pointer, for example when passed to a function. 

  • To rot, to go bad. 

  • To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body). 

noun
  • The process or result of being gradually decomposed. 

  • A deterioration of condition; loss of status or fortune. 

  • The situation, in programming languages such as C, where an array loses its type and dimensions and is reduced to a pointer, for example by passing it to a function. 

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