demur vs recoil

demur

noun
  • An act of hesitation as to proceeding; a scruple; also, a suspension of action or decision; a pause, a stop. 

verb
  • To interpose a demurrer. 

  • To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair. 

  • To scruple or object; to take exception; to oppose; to balk 

recoil

noun
  • The state or condition of having recoiled. 

  • A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking. 

  • The energy transmitted back to the shooter from a firearm which has fired. Recoil is a function of the weight of the weapon, the weight of the projectile, and the speed at which it leaves the muzzle. 

  • An escapement in which, after each beat, the scape-wheel recoils slightly. 

verb
  • To quickly push back when fired 

  • To pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment. 

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