decline vs run down

decline

verb
  • To cause to decrease or diminish. 

  • To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain. 

  • To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun. 

  • To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall. 

  • To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw. 

  • To move downwards, to fall, to drop. 

  • To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like. 

  • To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play. 

  • To become weaker or worse. 

  • To recite all the different declined forms of (a word). 

noun
  • A weakening. 

  • Downward movement, fall. 

  • A reduction or diminution of activity. 

  • The act of declining or refusing something. 

  • A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road. 

run down

verb
  • To decline in quality or condition. 

  • To chase till the object pursued is captured or exhausted. 

  • To describe in the form of a rundown, a rough outline or summary. 

  • To reduce the size or stock levels of a business, often with a view to closure. 

  • To run against and sink, as a vessel. 

  • To read quickly a list or other short text. 

  • To find something or someone after searching for a long time. 

  • To lose power slowly. Used for a machine, battery, or other powered device. 

  • To crush; to overthrow; to overbear. 

  • To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them. 

  • To criticize someone or an organisation, often unfairly. 

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