assault vs defence

assault

verb
  • To threaten or harass. 

  • To attack, physically or figuratively; to assail. 

noun
  • A non-competitive combat between two fencers. 

  • A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc. 

  • A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like 

  • An act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm (such as brandishing a weapon). 

  • An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching the person, such as by raising a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at the person and missing. 

  • The tort whose action is such an act. 

  • The crime whose action is such an attempt. 

defence

noun
  • A strategy and tactics employed to prevent the other team from scoring; contrasted with offence. 

  • The portion of a team dedicated to preventing the other team from scoring; contrasted with offence. 

  • Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military. 

  • Something used to oppose attacks. 

  • The action of defending, of protecting from attack, danger or injury. 

  • An argument in support or justification of something. 

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